MNA | Mohammad Ghaderi: Richard Goldberg, a Grand Old Party foreign policy expert, is joining the White House's National Security Council as its new Director for Countering Iranian weapons of mass destruction.







Earlier in the Obama era, he was the main designer and negotiator of the Congress on Iran's sanctions and resigned after concluding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, JCPOA.

Goldberg, senior advisor at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), was a Republican negotiator for the United States Senate for several rounds of congressional sanctions against Iran.

He also identified himself as one of the leading FDD ideologues in the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Among his prominent proposals, is to cut funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) which has already come into effect.

Who is Richard Goldberg?

Goldberg holds a Bachelor of Science in Journalism and Master's in Public Policy and Administration from Northwestern University. He is an officer in the US Navy Reserve with prior service in Afghanistan.

From 2004 to 2014, he worked on Capitol Hill, serving as deputy chief of staff and senior foreign policy adviser to former US Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois. From 2015 to 2017, he served as deputy chief of staff for legislative affairs and later chief of staff for Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner.

As a staff associate for the House Appropriations Subcommittee on State-Foreign Operations, Richard worked on a wide range of issues related to US foreign assistance, including foreign military financing, international security assistance, international peacekeeping, development, global health and economic support funds. He was a founding staff director of the House US-China Working Group and was among the first Americans ever to visit China’s human space launch center. A leader in efforts to expand US missile defense cooperation with Israel, Richard played a key role in US funding for the Arrow-3 program, Iron Dome and the deployment of an advanced missile defense radar to the Negev Desert.

In the Senate, Goldberg emerged as a leading architect of the toughest sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran. He called on US President Donald Trump to bring Iran's economy “to its knees.” He was the lead Republican negotiator for three rounds of sanctions targeting the Central Bank of Iran, the SWIFT financial messaging service, and entire sectors of the Iranian economy. Goldberg also drafted and negotiated legislation promoting human rights and democracy in Iran, including sanctions targeting entities that provide the Iranian government with the tools of repression. His Iran sanctions work was featured in the book The Iran Wars.

As the governor’s chief of staff, Richard managed government in America’s fifth-largest state with oversight of all day-to-day operations, including homeland security, public safety, and public health. He also spearheaded the first-ever state legislation to divest public pension funds from companies engaged in boycotts of Israel, which sparked a nationwide initiative in state capitols around America.

Designing common plans with Israel against Iran

He threatens to the boycott of central European banks and the board of directors of SWIFT on charges of facilitating trade with Iran, with an emphasis on crazy theory. He undermines international obligations on Iran's nuclear deal and eliminates those who resist the US sanctions on Iran.
With the formation of the puzzle of the Tramp consultants, the unveiling of his main goal of his administration in confronting Iran has fallen since the heavy defeat of Washington in creating an international consensus against Iran. One of the main goals of Goldberg's membership since yesterday is to express a vague concern about Iran's nuclear program and create conditions for a possible war with the country.

In summer, Goldberg met with the Israel Interior Council's Jacob Nagel in which both sides agreed that the Trump administration should use sanctions power to target foreign governments as well as international agencies and their officials who have agreed to the JCPOA in order to reduce Iran's ability to develop nuclear weapons.

For example, Goldberg and Nagel said that foreign governments involved in rebuilding and reconstructing Iran’s nuclear reactor should also be targeted by the US sanctions.

In fact, the move will allow Washington to respond to the alleged mitigation of the risks of its proliferation by targeting foreign governments for its scientific cooperation with Iran.

That way, the White House can claim that foreign governments engaged in building Iran’s nuclear activity, such as the reconstruction of the Arak nuclear reactor, are engaged in activities that can effectively contribute to the risk or spread of weapons of mass destruction.

International Atomic Energy Agency is the next target of sanctions

Financial and technological support, even in form of attempts to reduce Iran's capability of nuclear reactor, should be sanctioned and all assets of the parties involved in these activities will be subjected to US secondary sanctions.
Goldberg's next suggestion is that Washington should reduce the IAEA's budget if the Agency continues to provide technical assistance to Iran and host seminars and conferences in the country.

However, according to the JCPOA, the IAEA is responsible to contribute to all types of cooperation and technical assistance projects in Iran. For example, the JCPOA requires a joint commission to support Iran for the IAEA's technical cooperation projects.  The Arak reactor modernization project includes significant international support from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Nuclear power will be.

However, Trump’s National Security Advisers have other agenda on mind which is not to limit Iran’s nuclear technology, nor to reduce the risks of developing nuclear weapons, but to pave the way for a war with Iran. Consequently, they have made an all-out-effort to undermine the nuclear accord and intensify international monitoring on Iran to achieve the objective.

It seems the US is willing to impose sanctions even on its allies, and international organizations and agencies to attain malicious plan against Iran.