Valdai Club

The US trade sanctions may be enforced in the autumn of 2018, and it is still a question whether Europe will be strong enough to withstand them. Based on Trump’s attitude, the measures are going to be strict, and there is no chance the US at least puts them down. If secondary sanctions imposed against European companies will be tough, then their interests may become a head-on collision with the EU’s political interests.  

On May 8, 2018, Donald Trump announced the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal. Simultaneously the Iran-Israel conflict began to escalate: on May 10, Israel conducted a missile strikes against "Iranian military targets" in Syria - allegedly in response to a similar act of aggression against it. Alexander Aksenyonok, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary and Deputy Chairman of the Association of Russian Diplomats, spoke in an interview with www.valdaiclub.com about how the US decision on the JCPOA influenced the regional policy and the escalation of the conflict.

A looming trade war and Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Iran nuclear deal (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) have thrown a spotlight on growing tensions in the transatlantic relationship. In recent weeks French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel traveled to Washington, hoping to obtain exemptions from threatened tariffs on steel and aluminium and to disrupt the Trump administration’s preparation for a new war in the Middle East by saving the Iran nuclear deal.