₦airaland Forum

ChenHao23:
There's no billions anywhere to be released to Iran in CASH rather part of the frozen funds which is domiciled in Qatar SHALL be use to solely purchase AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS for Iranians FROM THE USA.

Trump also repeatedly argued that giving Iran access to frozen assets made the regime stronger and enriched a government he described as a sponsor of terrorism.

For years, President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Vice President JD Vance argued against deals that provided financial concessions to Iran, saying that giving the regime money fuels terror. But now the agreement they’ve reached to end the war with Tehran is poised to hand the regime billions.

For the better part of a decade, Trump’s central indictment of former President Barack Obama’s Iran nuclear deal was simple: Giving Tehran access to frozen assets enriched a dangerous regime and got the United States little in return.

Trump’s current secretary of state and vice president went even further, co-sponsoring legislation as senators that argued Iranian frozen funds could not be safely released because the money, even with rules governing its use, could end up being utilized in a dangerous way.


Now, all three are backing an agreement that spells out US commitments to potentially release those funds and lift sanctions on Tehran but leaves specific details on Iran’s nuclear program to future negotiations.

Administration officials have downplayed the significance of the written document and said the movement of any money will be performance-based. They also have said the atmosphere of this deal is different from previous ones because the US has degraded Iran’s military.

“We have great confidence that we’re going to be able to see if they try to fund terrorist organizations,” Vance said Thursday.

However, the signed memorandum of understanding nevertheless embraces the same type of incentivized financial relief that Trump, Rubio and Vance spent years warning would enrich a nation they described as the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism.

Under the terms of the 14-point memorandum of understanding formally signed and released by the White House on Wednesday, the US “undertakes to make fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran upon the implementation of this MOU,” “to terminate all types of sanctions against the Islamic Republic of Iran, including the United Nations Security Council resolutions,” and to immediately issue waivers for the sale of Iranian oil.

The Trump administration has vehemently argued that its agreement is stronger than Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, despite many analysts and critics arguing it appears to give Iran significant concessions.

Significantly, a number of Republican senators, including those who typically stay quiet, have openly questioned the terms of Trump’s Iran negotiations.

Roger Wicker, the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said he was “concerned that the memorandum of understanding negotiates away the victories” of the war and that the plan for a $300 billion reconstruction fund would make the financial incentives in the JCPOA “look like a pittance by comparison.” The administration said the US would not contribute to that fund.

Trump has long criticized the JCPOA, from which he withdrew the US in 2018, in large part because it gave Tehran sanctions relief and access to frozen assets.

In an op-ed in September 2015 — ahead of the deal’s implementation — then-candidate Trump castigated the JCPOA for the prospect of lifting “all nuclear related sanctions” and handing Iran “a windfall of $150 billion, which will no doubt fund terrorism around the world.”

“It appears we wanted a deal at any cost,” he wrote.

As recently as 2016, Trump argued that Obama had made a basic mistake by relieving pressure on Tehran before obtaining stronger concessions. “We took the sanctions off, we got nothing for that,” Trump said at a conservative summit in Denver. “It’s like 101, Trump, ‘The Art of the Deal.’”

“Why did Pres Obama remove sanctions against Iran prior to negotiating rather than completing successful negotiation & then remove sanctions?” Trump tweeted in 2014.

Trump also repeatedly argued that giving Iran access to frozen assets made the regime stronger and enriched a government he described as a sponsor of terrorism.

donself9:
I still can fathom Fayose obession with SEyi makinde, for a man is age this is sycophancy gone tew far.

To think Fayose granted an interview yesterday n said Seyi makinde is why pdp n opposition lose in Ekiti to the imcumbent despite acknowledging He worked (pdp member) for APC success

He was boasting he said it Oyebanji will win, before nkor ... those that contested against APc what capacity do they have to challenge APc, the pdp we don't even know which fraction legit or ADC that are yet to find a balance

I don't understand why Fayose always feel he the best man to attack SEYI ...even thou makinde have never honored him with a Reply since the obsession began

How can yiu say SEyi is the problem of PDP .. So wike dancing on your mandate in apc house is solution of PDP

zoedew:
I guess the xenophobes should have enough jobs to do caring for their HIV and AIDS co-xenophobes. Pathetic folks!

Difrent:
Since SA took Israel to ICC them don by US market.

And not allowing Elon use his Stralink to spy on them for the Americans was the final straw that broke the Carmel's back
They don't give shit about no HIV patients

Thomasankara:
[/color]south Africa is against the world [color=#770077]

Amotolongbo:
El Rufai, we understand. Which one is Nnamdi Kanu?
Which election has Nnamdi Kanu ever influenced? The result from South East has always been the same.
Was Nnamdi Kanu supporting Peter Obi during the last election after calling Obi numerous names like “gaybriel”?

naptu2:
The NDC spokesman said that all parties had their primaries and other processes last year but NDC was only registered in February, so they could not take part in this election.

Amotolongbo:
Congrats
Is there any election in Nigeria not voted on tribal line?

Until 2025, the US was supporting South Africa's efforts to deal with the virus with an estimated $400m (£300m) a year through the President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

The US government says it will stop funding programmes in South Africa intended to tackle the spread of HIV and Aids.

More than eight million South Africans are living with HIV – the highest number of any country in the world.

The US State Department appeared to link the decision to South Africa's alleged failure to protect the white-minority Afrikaner community - an allegation the South African government has repeatedly rejected.

South Africa's health ministry responded by saying that though it had not been informed of this decision, it had "long been working on a self-reliance plan".

Until 2025, the US was supporting South Africa's efforts to deal with the virus with an estimated $400m (£300m) a year through the President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief (Pepfar).

But since the inauguration of President Donald Trump, relations between the two countries have increasingly soured.

Shortly after he came into office, Trump issued an executive order alleging that "countless" South African policies dismantled equal opportunities and fuelled violence "against racially disfavored landowners".

This is disputed by the South African government, which says its Black Economic Empowerment policy is needed to correct economic inequality dating from the apartheid era.

The executive order also highlighted South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice and its links to Iran.

The White House said that given these "unjust and immoral practices", further aid to South Africa would not be provided.

Trump has also falsely alleged that there is a "white genocide" taking place in South Africa, which has led to the administration setting up a refugee programme for Afrikaners - descendants of western Europeans who settled in southern Africa in the 17th Century. They are now just about the only refugees being allowed into the US.

The genocide claim has been widely discredited.

Pepfar funding, which had been providing about a fifth of South Africa's total spending on HIV programmes, got a reprieve last October with what was called a "bridge plan".

But a US State Department official has confirmed that a "phased drawdown" of Pepfar funding would now start.

This was because of "South Africa's failure to make demonstrable progress on policy requests by the administration", the official said.

The intention of the US government was to "foster self-reliance" and reduce dependency on American funding, they added, pointing out that "South Africa is a middle-income country and is more than capable of supporting its own health programs".

South Africa's health ministry has said that while Pepfar contributed to the country's HIV programme, the provision of life-saving antiretroviral drugs was funded entirely separately, with most coming from the government.

Attempts to mend US-South Africa relations have floundered. These include a high-profile White House meeting between Trump and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa just over a year ago when the US president confronted his counterpart with his claims of white persecution.

The US also boycotted the G20 meeting, a gathering of the world's major economies, hosted by South Africa last November.

Ireland spends $853,000 to deport 42 South Africans as migration tensions rise across Africa’s largest economy

Olat4421:
guy pls shut up, who told u Ronaldinho fall from grace, some of u are just used to type nonsense in Nairaland, even in d current world cup in Brazil Last match he was present he is adore and celebrated world wide

bewla:
most of. You celebrate him way back to remove Tinubu and encourage him to put sanctions on Nigeria


But God no go shame us

MIKOLOWISKA:
why did she been for pics

In an interview with Italy’s La7 TV, Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the summit, and he obliged because he felt sorry for her,

US President Donald Trump’s comments to an Italian media outlet about the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni have sparked a fresh diplomatic incident.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani announced Friday that he was canceling a planned trip to the United States, where he was slated to meet with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in response to Trump’s reported remarks. Tajani called Trump’s claims “offensive,” while Meloni said they were “completely fabricated.”

It is the latest dip in the deteriorating relationship between the once-close leaders and a further fracture between the US and its European allies, coming after signs of repair at the G7 summit this week in France

In an interview with Italy’s La7 TV, Trump claimed Meloni had “begged” him for a photo at the summit, and he obliged because he felt sorry for her, according to a dubbed Italian translation posted by the outlet.

Meloni refuted the comments in a sharply worded video posted on Friday morning, saying they deserved “an immediate response.”

“Donald Trump’s statements are completely fabricated. I’m frankly shocked. I don’t know why the president of the United States behaves this way towards his own allies, and it’s not the first time it’s happened,” she said in the video posted on X.

“I can only say that it’s a shame he doesn’t have the same determination with the enemies of the West, with the enemies of the United States, with leaderships with which he instead appears much more accommodating,” she continued.

“But you must remember one thing: Italy and I never beg,” Meloni said

Tajani was scheduled to come to the US early next week and attend the Italy-US Business, Investment, Science and Innovation Forum in Miami. According to a statement from the State Department, Rubio was slated to meet with his Italian counterpart “to advance U.S.-Italy bilateral cooperation on economic security and critical minerals.”

CNN has reached out to the White House and US State Department for comment.

It is not the first spat between Trump and Meloni. Earlier this year, the right-wing Italian leader called Trump’s criticisms of Pope Leo XIV over his opposition to the war against Iran “unacceptable.” Trump then criticized Meloni and Italy more broadly for what he said was a failure to sufficiently help the US in the conflict.

Meloni has widely been regarded as Trump’s staunchest western European ally, although this relationship has been strained by her refusal to participate in the war with Iran.

Since the start of Trump’s second term, populist and conservative Meloni captured the attention of Trump and his advisers and she was the only European leader to attend his second inauguration.

The two have overlapped on issues such as strict immigration policies and national sovereignty.

Trump has been known in the past to shower Meloni with strong personal praise, contrasting with his hostile approach to other European leaders.

iamfraud:
That’s a good decision
Kanu is a prisoner and can’t lead us again

saintkel:
in other words, u r saying if d USA pays 2 dollar for a litre of fuel but now it's 8 dollar for same litre ...what then will be d fate of Tinubu who met fuel at.....let me not even talk