North Korea does not want war, but wants a deal like the Iran Nuclear Deal that Iran got under the Obama administration in 2015, some GOP federal lawmakers say as President Trump threatens to "totally destroy North Korea if necessary"....The Iran Nuclear Deal, pushed by Obama and supported by all of Ohio's congressional Democrats, including representatives Fudge, Kaptur, Beatty and Ryan, and Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, is one of Obama's signature policy initiatives that President Trump wants scrapped, saying it is too lenient.... French President Emmanuel Macron warns against scrapping the Iran Nuclear Deal, a deal reached between the United States, Iran and five of the world powers, including France, as to Iran's controversial nuclear weapons program....By editor Kathy Wray Coleman of ClevelandUrbanNews.Com and KathyWrayColemanOnlineNewsBlog.Com, Ohio's most read digital Black newspaper and Black blog....Tel: (216) 659-0473. Email us news at: editor@clevelandurbannews.com
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| Former United States president Barack Obama |
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By Kathy Wray Coleman, editor-in-chief
CLEVELANDURBANNEWS.COM-CLEVELAND, Ohio-As tensions between the United States and North Korea increase, some GOP federal lawmakers, such as Rep. Trent Franks of Arizona, say North Korea is really not looking for war but for a deal similar to the Iran Nuclear Deal reached under the Obama administration.
The controversial nuclear weapons deal, reached in 2015 between the United States, the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, and Iran, seeks to end what was then a 12-year crisis over Iran's suspicious nuclear weapons program.
It is one of former president Barack Obama's signature policy initiatives, the measure passing a Republican -dominated congress and United States Senate with opposition from key GOP Senate leaders, led by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.
It was vehemently opposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who unsuccessfully lobbied against it during a speech before a joint session of congress in March of 2015, a speech arranged by then House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and boycotted by several Democratic lawmakers.
A Republican, Boehner resigned from congress in September of 2015 amid a fallout with key right-wing Republican congressional operatives.
The nuclear weapons deal also lifts crippling sanctions against Iran over a period of years, and places a variable freeze on sensitive nuclear materials for at least a decade.
President Donald Trump, a Republican, wants the Iran Nuclear Deal gone, saying it is embarrassing, and too lenient, although Iranian president Hassan Rouhani disagrees and wants the agreement to remain intact.
Speaking to the United Nations General Assembly (UMGA) on Tuesday in New York, and before leaders and representative of 193 countries, the president took on North Korean President Kim Jong-un, and threatened to "totally destroy North Korea if necessary."
But Secretary of State Rex Tiller stopped short of saying he wants the nuclear deal abolished, saying, instead, that it needs to be revisited.
Tiller said the "sunset clause" of the nuclear deal, which automatically lifts most key restrictions on Iran's nuclear program by 2030, raises serious concerns.
A Democrat and the nation's first Black president whose second four-year term ended in January when Trump became president, Obama fought hard to bring the Iran Nuclear Deal to fruition, and won bipartisan support of the legislative measure that is now under deep scrutiny as Korea threatens possible military action against the U.S., a threat met with a counter-threat by President Trump, a tendentious president who rarely backs away from controversy.
“I am heartened that so many senators judged this deal on the merits, and am gratified by the strong support of lawmakers and citizens alike,” said Obama in a press release to Clevelandurbannews.com and Kathywraycolemanonlinenews
This week French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters that he firmly rejects any military solution to the North Korean crisis and warned against dismantling the nuclear agreement with Iran.
France is among the five world powers associated with the nuclear agreement that also includes the United Kingdom, Russia, China and Germany
All of the congressional Democrats from Ohio supported the deal when it passed congress in 2015, including Congresswomen Marcia L. Fudge, a Warrensville Heights Democrat whose largely black 11th congressional district includes the city of Cleveland, Marcy Kaptur , a Toledo Democrat whose 9th congressional district extends to Cleveland, Joyce Beatty of Columbus, and Tim Ryan of Niles. And so did U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown of Cleveland, a Senate Democrat.
Fudge and Beatty are the only two Blacks in congress from Ohio, a pivotal state for presidential elections that Obama carried in 2008 and via his reelection in 2012.
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the strongest option we have to prevent Iran from continuing its nuclear weapons program," Fudge said in 2015 when the plan was agreed upon as part of the nuclear weapons deal.
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