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Edited by
Matthew Philips
○While Trump rails against Iran,
a team of diplomats is ensuring
his sanctions have bite
During a press conference at the United Nations
General Assembly on Sept
. 26, President Trump
made clear how he feels about the criticism he’s
gotten from other countries over his decision to
pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement and res-
urrect stiling sanctions in November. “It doesn’t
matter what world leaders think,” he said. “Iran’s
going to come back to me and make a deal.”
One reason he’s so sure? An obscure but highly
efective group with a name that sounds like it was
pulled from the title of a 1980s action lick: the
Iran Action Group.
As Trump, Secretary of State Michael Pompeo,
and national security adviser John Bolton have
lashed out against Iran’s leaders and the European
Union for trying to preserve the nuclear deal
Trump quit in May, a handful of employees from
the U.S. State and Treasury departments has
quietly toured the globe, visiting world capitals and
corporate headquarters to persuade foreign gov-
ernments and companies to shun the Iranian mar-
ket. The choice they present has been simple: Do
business with America, the biggest economy in the
world, or do business with Iran and face sanctions
and banishment from the U.S. inancial system.
“What we have now is a big game of chicken,”
Bloomberg Businessweek
October 8, 2018
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