Trump escalates pressure on Iran and Iraq … and possible repercussions...

The international newspapers published this Sunday morning covered many prominent files, the most prominent of which was the American escalation against Iran In the final weeks of President Donald Trump’s term, as well as the consequences of Washington’s plans to designate the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization.

New American pressure on Iran

The Washington Post said that the administration of outgoing US President Donald Trump has intensified the pressure campaign on Iran and Iraq, by reducing the period of exemption from sanctions, which allows Iraq to strengthen the energy network that is already operating beyond its absorptive capacity.

And she added: “The Trump administration’s maximum pressure campaign against Iran has granted Iraq gradual waivers that exempt it from sanctions when it buys Iranian gas and electricity products that represent a third of its energy needs.”

A spokesman for the US State Department said that Secretary of State Mike Pompeo extended the exemption period to 45 days only, which gives the Trump administration the final decision on whether to extend the exemption or end it before the inauguration of US President-elect Joe Biden on January 20.
She went on to say, “These exemptions usually last for 120 days, giving American and Iraqi officials enough time to work to meet the needs of the people. Iraq Of electricity. That period decreased to 60 days in the summer, after Pompeos campaign to tighten pressure on Iran. ”
And she continued: “Practically, this decision deepens the pressure on the Iraqi government, which is already suffering from the Trump administration’s threat to withdraw the US embassy from Baghdad, and the US administration has used the exemption from sanctions and the threat to close the embassy to push the Iraqi Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kazimi to reduce his government’s dependence on Iran, and weaken Iranian-backed militias in Iraq ”.

Trump’s gifts to Israel are continuing
The New York Times said that US President Trump’s gifts to Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were still pouring in, a few weeks before the end of his presidential term, following the victory of Democrat Joe Biden in the US presidential election.
The American newspaper added: “The decision of the United States to allow the American Jonathan Pollard, accused of spying for Israel in the eighties, to end the terms of his release, and to return to IsraelIt marked the end of one of the long and bitter disputes between the two allies.
“This marks the culmination of the extended relations between the two countries over the past four years, in which President Trump has been very generous with Netanyahu,” she said.
And she continued: “Trump completely broke with the approach of former US President Barack Obama regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, sided with the Israeli position regarding the status of Jerusalem, West Bank settlements, and other occupied lands, and his Middle East team pressured the Palestinians, in a failed attempt to convince them to join the peace plan. The proposed “Deal of the Century”, and sponsored historic normalization agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Sudan.
The newspaper added: “The United States and Israel cooperated in confronting Iran and against international diplomatic bodies, which they considered biased against Israel. Trump gave Netanyahu other political prizes and helped him in three successive re-election campaigns, the most prominent of which was in March 2019, when the US President recognized Israeli sovereignty over Israel. The long-disputed Golan Heights. ”

And she went on: “The Trump administration has largely equated anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism, both domestically and internationally. Accordingly, US Secretary of State Pompeo announced this week that the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement against Israel would be considered anti-Semitic, and that its followers would not be eligible for federal government support. ”

The dangers of classifying the Houthis as a terrorist organization
The Israeli Jerusalem Post said that the US President Donald Trump’s administration’s plan to classify the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization will not lead to an end to the war in To whomAccording to analysts’ opinions.
The newspaper added: “The purpose of this measure will be to assist the besieged and internationally recognized government of Yemeni President Abd Rabbu Mansour Hadi by isolating the Shiite militias and adding a new burden on their main sponsor, Iran, but experts believe that this decision will not help end the war in Yemen.” .
It quoted Andreas Craig, a fellow at the Institute for Middle Eastern Studies, and an assistant professor at the Security College at Kings College in London, as saying: “Classifying a rebel group as a terrorist organization has verbal connotations, but it will not have an impact on the conflict in Yemen, nor on External parties seeking a diplomatic solution to the conflict ”.
For his part, the former US ambassador to Yemen, Gerald Firstein, and vice president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, said that the United States lacks justifications by which it can classify the Houthi militia as a terrorist organization.

He added, “It is not clear what the purpose of this classification is, there are other proposals that were put forward in the past, but they were not activated because they do not serve specific purposes.”
Firstein believes that classifying the Houthis as terrorists would be counterproductive to US efforts to reach a peace agreement in Yemen and the wider region.