Rand Paul angles to become Trump's emissary to Iran

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/07/17/trump-iran-deal-obama-1417801

Trump’s better deal with Iran looks a lot like Obama’s

Donald Trump has long trashed the 2015 Iran nuclear agreement as “the worst deal ever,” a “disaster” that didn’t cover nearly enough of the Islamist-led country’s nefarious behavior.

In recent weeks, however, the president has indicated that the Barack Obama-era deal might not be so bad after all.

Trump has repeatedly urged Iran to engage in negotiations with him, while saying that Tehran’s nuclear ambitions are his chief concern — “A lot of progress has been made. And they'd like to talk,” Trump asserted Tuesday at the White House. His aides and allies, meanwhile, have recently suggested that Iran and other countries should follow the guidelines of a deal they themselves have shunned as worthless.

At times, analysts and former officials say, it sounds like Trump wants to strike a deal that essentially mirrors the agreement that his White House predecessor inked — even if he’d never be willing to admit it. Iranian officials seem willing to egg him on, saying they’ll talk so long as Trump lifts the sanctions he’s imposed on them and returns to the 2015 Iran deal. And as European ministers warn that the existing deal is nearly extinct, Trump may feel like he is backed into a corner and running out of options.

“Trump got rid of the Iran nuclear deal because it was Barack Obama’s agreement,” said Jarrett Blanc, a former State Department official who helped oversee the 2015 deal’s implementation. “If you were to present to Trump the same deal and call it Trump’s deal, he’d be thrilled.”

The administration’s confusing messaging is a result of warring between two major factions, U.S. officials say, with Trump in his own separate lane. The infighting has been deeply frustrating to those involved in the debate. “In the past, even when I personally disagreed with a policy, I could explain its logic,” a U.S. official said. “Now I can’t even do that.”

Trump quit the nuclear deal in May 2018, reimposing sanctions the U.S. had lifted on Iran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program. He said the deal should have tackled Iran’s non-nuclear activities, such as its sponsorship of terrorist groups, and blasted the expiration dates on some of its clauses.

As tensions have spiked, one voice pushing for a deal has been Trump.

He’s said he’s “not looking for war,” wants to talk to Iran without preconditions and isn’t interested in regime change. He called off a military strike on Iran over its downing of an unmanned U.S. drone, overriding the advice of several top aides. His main public demand is that Iran not build nuclear weapons. In return, Trump has offered to help revive Iran’s sanctions-battered economy.

To observers, that sounds suspiciously like the 2015 deal.

“They can't have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said Tuesday. “We want to help them. We will be good to them. We will work with them. We will help them in any way we can. But they can't have a nuclear weapon."

Trump occasionally nods to other disputes with Iran, such as its funding of militia groups, ballistic missile testing and Tehran’s support of rebel forces in Yemen, but nuclear weapons dominate his rhetoric.
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NorthCarolinaLiberty said:
But you've already said Rand is a spineless sellout.


Here:




And here:








Didn't you vote for Obama and Hillary?
















`
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I do think Rand is a sellout and spineless for cozying up to Trump but that doesn’t mean I can’t support anything he does. Rand at the very least holds some of the non interventionist ideals which I support. So what exactly is your point? Oh you don’t have one.
 
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ChiefJustice said:
I do think Rand is a sellout and spineless for cozying up to Trump but that doesn’t mean I can’t support anything he does. Rand at the very least holds some of the non interventionist ideals which I support. So what exactly is your point? Oh you don’t have one.
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Those two posts that NCL posted were from 2012 and 2015. Rand was not cozying up then. Why didn't you like him long before Trump?
 
From a press conference earlier today:

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...tap-rand-paul-to-serve-as-envoy-in-talks-with

Trump says he didn't tap Rand Paul to serve as envoy in talks with Iran

President Trump on Thursday disputed that he asked Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) to serve as an emissary to Iran following a report that the he signed off on the senator's request to help smooth tensions.

“No I don’t know anything about that other than I have spoken to Sen. Paul, and Sen. Paul is somebody I have a very good relationship with,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.

“And I would listen to him, but I didn’t appoint him, no,” he continued. “No he’s somebody I listen to, and I respect Sen. Paul and if he had some ideas I would listen.”

Politico reported Wednesday that Paul proposed meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to attempt to restart negotiations on the president's behalf, and that Trump gave the idea his approval.

Paul has been an outspoken critic of U.S. intervention in foreign conflicts, and earlier this year stressed that the Trump administration must seek approval from Congress to go to war with Iran.

But Trump on Thursday pushed back on the idea that he was planning to send an emissary to meet with Zarif, instead touting his administration's campaign of sanctions to cripple the Iranian economy.

"All we want is to have a fair deal," Trump said.
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More at link.
 
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juleswin said:
Then how do you explain the price of oil dropping after this appointment?
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Price of oil rose when Hurricane Barry passed through the Gulf of Mexico caused almost all US oil and gas production there to shut down as a precaution. As that has been coming back online, the price has been going back down.


https://www.cnbc.com/2019/07/15/hurricane-barry-oil-gas-producers-in-the-gulf-of-mexico-restart.html

Oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico restart after Barry


U.S. oil companies on Monday began restoring some of the more than nearly 74% production shut at U.S. Gulf of Mexico platforms ahead of Hurricane Barry, the U.S. offshore drilling regulator said.

There was 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) of oil production off line in the U.S.-regulated areas of the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, about 80,000 barrels less than on Sunday, according to the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE).

Workers also were returning to the more than 280 production platforms that had been evacuated. It can take several days for full production to be resumed after a storm leaves the Gulf of Mexico.
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More at link.


https://www.marketwatch.com/story/o...ath-of-barry-provides-some-support-2019-07-15

Oil prices end lower after last week’s gains as Gulf storm threat passes

Oil futures settled lower Monday, giving back a portion of last week’s sizable gains, as production in the Gulf of Mexico began a post-storm recovery.

“Near-term, the trend is still higher, but the combination of formidable technical resistance in the mid $60s [for WTI] and persistent demand concerns due to the trade war will likely prevent prices from making new highs for the year,” said Tyler Richey, co-editor at Sevens Report Research.
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Gulf of Mexico oil production had taken a “temporary plunge due to Hurricane Barry,” said Robbie Fraser, senior commodity analyst at Schneider Electric. Barry, however, was downgraded to a tropical depression by Monday.

Oil and natural-gas output in the Gulf was picking up, with about 69% of Gulf oil production and nearly 61% of natural-gas production shut in, according to the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement Monday. That marked an improvement from Sunday, when almost 73% of oil and 62% of natural-gas output was down.

“The storm will likely skew [Energy Information Administration’s] storage numbers for the next couple reports, as demand, supply, imports, exports, and domestic production will all be [affected] by the slowdown in The Gulf,” wrote Robert Yawger, director of energy at Mizuho USA, in a Monday research note.
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Libertea Party said:
Discussion from other thread...

Keeping in view the golden 'follow the money' rule, be careful what you wish for ; if this materializes, he could end up being emissary of notorious Iran war championing neocon Adelson who is top donor of GOP-MAGA/Neocon-Lite wing.
MAGA is supposed to be more gutsy than Rand and even he escalated purposeless and wasteful war in Afghanistan, recently bombed Syria ( reportedly on Ivanka's advice) and has currently put up harsh sanctions and military buildup around Iran that carries risk of accidental war spark even if neocons still feel being deterred by America's wars fatigue. Does Rand have what it takes to to stand up to billionaire Adelson or even Ivanka?
..
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I want to remain skeptical on this but feel slightly optimistic that this could nudge things in a better direction. Neocons won't be avoiding any new major wars out of goodness of their hearts or for concern for humanity ; they are basically fully discredited now and will get rebuke from everywhere pretty much. It was almost a miracle that they are even getting a seat at any table courtesy of team MAGA/neocon Adelson's funding to a confused directionsless GOP following Bush-Obama.

But now if this is genuine shift in foreign policy, could be the beginning of the end of influence of Deep Zionism on GOP-MAGA wing. Maybe that's bit too optimistic. But recent take down of child rapist and zionism causes funder billioniare Epstein, resignataion of MAGA Labor Sec Acosta and vanishing of Dershowitz on Fauxnews probably will further demoralize Israel-Firster lobbies/pepertual neocons. Part of credit for this goes to Patriot wing of Deep State, without their efforts Deep Zionism won't have had these setbacks.
In any case, let's hope for peace everywhere and better sense to prevail.
 
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Libertea Party said:
One take is that this was leaked to discredit the whole initiative. This is politically courageous of Rand Paul. I don't see much upside for him in doing this from a selfish political perspective. A true statesman-like gesture. The neocons will smear him mercilessly in primaries.

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The neocons and teocons hammered Rand mercilessly yesterday on this. Mark Levin had an emotional outburst, smearing Rand, defaming Ron, and mentioned newsletters. Don’t ever mistake the fact that neocons and teocons have priorities that outweigh everything else. You could agree with a teocon on 90% of the issues, but if you disagree with their belief that certain other nations must be destroyed, they lose their minds. Levin not only wants to police the world, he wants to destroy parts of it (along with anyone who dares question the benefits, costs and consequences of such aggression).

Zippyjuan said:
From a press conference earlier today:

https://thehill.com/homenews/admini...tap-rand-paul-to-serve-as-envoy-in-talks-with

More at link.
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Mission accomplished, eh comrade Zippy?
 
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RJB said:
Those two posts that NCL posted were from 2012 and 2015. Rand was not cozying up then. Why didn't you like him long before Trump?
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To me he had drifted too far into falling in line with the Republican establishment than upholding the views of his father. Some here might be OK with that, I wasn’t a fan of it.
 
ChiefJustice said:
To me he had drifted too far into falling in line with the Republican establishment than upholding the views of his father. Some here might be OK with that, I wasn’t a fan of it.
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Some expected/ hoped he would be just like his father but he isn't. He takes some things from his father but is generally more of a mainstream Republican. He is not a neo- Conservative.
 
Here they go again, hopefully false war drums again:





Iran seizes British oil tanker in Gulf...
Video...
Second one released...
UK warns of 'serious consequences'...
Clash with Royal Navy...
Tehran says USA may have shot down own drone!
Releases footage...
New weapon revealed...


[SIZE=+7]WAR DRUMS IRAN [/SIZE][SIZE=+7]
logo9.gif



[/SIZE]​
[SIZE=+7]
[/SIZE]

Likely Un-Related

Top US General Says American Troops Should Be Ready To Die For Israel

[h=3]I Love Adelson[/h]
 
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