'US wants Iraqi-style regime change in Iran'

The US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Tehran on Tuesday is the first step in the American plan for a regime change in Iran carried out in accordance with the Iraqi scenario, Middle East expert Sami Ramadani told RT.

“If one listens carefully to what Trump was saying, really, the US is not only withdrawing from this multilateral international agreement unilaterally – scrapping it, but it’s also, actually, threatening a regime change in Iran,” Ramadani said.

“The tone of his [Trump's] speech; the words he used are reminiscent of George Bush Jr’s speech” before the US-led the invasion in 2003 when “lies were used to launch a genocidal war against the people of Iraq,” he said. The expert noted that not only was the Iraqi regime overthrown due to the US' military involvement, but the whole country was “destroyed.” The US has been trying to destabilize Iran for decades, he said.

Washington wants a lot more from Tehran than concessions regarding the nuclear deal, which Iranian authorities are unable to provide due to a strong dissatisfaction with the agreement at home, Ramadani said. “I don’t think Iran is capable of making further concessions – they said they’ve never planned to develop nuclear weapons| and its compliance with the deal has been confirmed by the IAEA on numerous occasions,” he added.

“What the US wants from Iran is to abandon its independence. That’s bottom line… They don’t want any independent strong nation in the world, especially, in the Middle East. And – regardless of what we think of its political system – Iran has chosen the path of independence from the US. They don’t want to be a lackey of the US policy in the region. And the US is telling them: ‘We’ll punish you for this,” the expert explained.

Journalist Max Blumenthal says that Tel Aviv stands behind Trump’s decision to pull out of the agreement.

"Israeli influence is absolutely key here. At least Trump sided with Netanyahu's kind of used car salesman style of presentation in order to justify withdrawing from the Iran deal and his new policy of rollback," the journalist said.

In late April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave a PowerPoint presentation, allegedly revealing Israeli intelligence on Iran’s non-compliance with the deal. The presentation, however, rang hollow according to Blumenthal.

"It's another intelligence scam driving us to war," he said, calling the intelligence cited by Netanyahu "arguably fabricated." Blumenthal added that nothing new was presented and that "much of the intelligence" appears to be "cooked" and stems from the early 2000s.

Earlier on Tuesday, Trump announced that Washington will “withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal" and that sanctions will be imposed against the country. The US president explained his decision by saying that that the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) did not prevent Tehran from enriching uranium, and it put the Middle East on the path of a nuclear arms race.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has slammed Trump’s decision as “illegal and illegitimate,” promising that Tehran will remain in the accord despite the US withdrawal.

The JCPOA deal, signed by Iran and P5+1 powers (China, France, Russia, UK, US, plus Germany) in 2015 after years of negotiations, saw international sanctions on Tehran lifted in exchange for Iran curbing its controversial nuclear program.