Thread by @DSchwammenthal

1/10 It's rather poignant that the first anniversary of the US withdrawal from the #JCPOA overlaps with Israel's Memorial Day for her 23,741 fallen soldiers and 3,150 terror victims. After all, many of these deaths in the past 40 years were caused by Iran.
bit.ly/2H8eZok

2/10 For the most recent Israeli victims of Iranian aggression look no further than to the four Israelis killed in the last #Gaza conflict, which was started and driven by #IslamicJihad, one of the many terror proxies funded and armed by Tehran.
on.wsj.com/306wv3K

3/10 Whether the #JCPOA prevents or, given its deep flaws, more likely enables Iran's nuclear quest is still debated. But it is no longer debatable that the deal has fueled Tehran's aggression, just as critics feared, disproving the theory that concessions would tame Iran.

4/10 The JCPOA was an opportunity for Iran to start behaving like a "normal country," as @SecPompeo puts it. The experiment failed. Knowing that the very logic of the nuclear deal precluded any serious sanctions for its aggression, Iran accelerated its crimes abroad and at home.

5/10 What’s more, the deal's sanction relief allowed the cash-strapped regime to lavishly fund its ethnic-cleansing campaign in Syria, the bloody conflict in Yemen, its stranglehold of Lebanon through Hezbollah, brutal militias in Iraq as well as Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

6/10 According to US estimates, Iran has spent over $16 billion to prop up Assad (others estimates say over $100 billion), pays $700 million a year to Hezbollah and spends historically about $100 million a year on Palestinian terror groups.
bit.ly/2kMFzHx

7/10 Renewed US sanctions paired with the regime's structural mismanagement and corruption have put though serious financial pressure on Tehran, making it far more difficult for the Islamic Republic to continue its regional aggression in Syria and beyond. bit.ly/2V2iTDW

8/10 The situation is so dire for Hezbollah that its leader Nasrallah even called for donations. As most EU countries still allow Hezbollah's so-called political wing to operate freely, these will continue to come also from Europe-based supporters. bit.ly/2UuELaB

9/10 The empirical evidence shows that as long as Iran is allowed and financially capable to wield its destructive influence in the region, it will do so. And as long as that's the case, Syria, Yemen, Israelis, Palestinians and Hezbollah-controlled Lebanon won't know peace.

10/10 To escape from America’s “maximum pressure campaign,” Iran is now threatening to violate its commitments under the JCPOA. Europe must not give in to such nuclear blackmail. The first signs are reassuring.
//END
reut.rs/2Vo0OnL