NEWSMONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

PARIS: US Republican presidential fron-trunner Donald Trump has rung alarmbells around the world with his proclama-tions on foreign policy, but his targets areincreasingly shrugging off his barbs. Bysuggesting that NATO is “obsolete” andthat Japan and South Korea shouldacquire nuclear weapons to rid the UnitedStates of the burden of protecting thosecountries, Trump has called into questionsome of the cornerstones of US foreignpolicy for decades.

The property developer’s comments

have earned sharp rebukes fromPresident Barack Obama and Secretaryof State John Kerry. An exasperatedObama said he was “getting questionsconstantly from foreign leaders aboutsome of the wackier suggestions thatare being made”. Obama said Trump“doesn’t know much about foreign poli-cy, or nuclear policy, or the Koreanpeninsula, or the world generally”.

When Kerry visited the Hiroshimaatomic bomb memorial on April 11, hedescribed Trump’s proposals to providenuclear weapons to Japan and South

Korea as an “aberration”. KazuhiroMaeshima, professor of politics at SophiaUniversity in Tokyo, said Trump’s com-ments were “a bluff based on unrealisticviews” because the US-Japan securityalliance is clearly “contributing to the USnational interest”.

If Trump became president, “it wouldat the very least create confusion andcarries the risk of triggering a majorturning point for the Japan-US allianceand Japan’s overall diplomacy,”Maeshima said. Although Trump leads

the Republican primary race, he is pro-jected to lose an election against thelikely Democratic nominee HillaryClinton. But the question is whetherTrump’s campaign could cause lastingdamage to America’s foreign relations, orat the very least worry its allies and exac-erbate strains with unfriendly nations.For example, he caused widespread con-sternation when he said his “numberone priority” if he became president wasto dismantle the carefully crafted dealbetween global powers and Iran on itsnuclear program.

The comments appear to have beenan attempt to play to the pro-Israel lob-by in the United States because Israelferociously opposed the deal. “When Ibecome president, the days of treatingIsrael like a second-class citizen will endon day one,” Trump told the powerfulAmerican Israel Public AffairsCommittee. Nimrod Goren, chairman ofthe Israeli Institute for Regional ForeignPolicies (Mitvim), said that even withsuch overt support for the Jewish state,“when it comes to Trump there are a lotof question marks as he is not a tradi-tional Republican politician”.

He said Trump - and his closestRepublican rival Ted Cruz, who has alsocalled into question the Iran deal - wasactually unlikely to win votes from thepro-Israel lobby by talking tough on theissue. “It is not by chance you don’t hearabout the Iran deal in the Israeli debateany more. It is considered a done deal. Idon’t think any people think you canreverse it,” Goren said.

In Iran, most people believe that ifTrump somehow wins the presidency,the Washington machine will curb hisambitions, a Tehran-based academicsaid. “Candidates like Trump, despitetheir tough and hostile stances, oncethey take office, the body of expertise inthe State Department, the Pentagon, theCIA, and the UN Security Council etc willprevent him from making just any deci-sion he desires,” Nasser Hadian, professorof international relations at theUniversity of Tehran, told AFP.

The analyst also said Trump had less“credibility” than Clinton and so as presi-dent would find it hard to persuade therest of the world to follow his lead if hetried to impose new sanctions on Iran.

Some of Trump’s comments - short onresearch but big on headline-grabbingpotential - have allowed his opponentsto label him unfit to be commander-in-chief. This week, Kerry swung into actionagain to say the United States must nev-er again resort to torture. —AFP

TEHRAN: The first Air France flightbetween Paris and Tehran for eightyears landed in the Islamic republic’scapital yesterday, bearing a govern-ment minister and a business delega-tion. The airline’s route had been sus-pended since 2008 because of interna-tional sanctions against Iran over itscontroversial nuclear program.However, sanctions have been liftedunder an accord with world powersthat has now been in force for threemonths.

Flight AF738 from Roissy-Charlesde Gaulle touched down at Tehran’sImam Khomeini international airportat 1530 GMT, 20 minutes ahead ofschedule, an AFP journalist said.French Transport Minister AlainVidalies was on board, along withmembers of a delegation some 15-strong who will spend two days in theIranian capital. At a welcoming cere-mony Vidalies said he was “proud ofthe resumption of these direct flights”

and said being “able to move betweenParis and Tehran was crucial... forentering into partnerships”.

Iran’s deputy transport minister, AliAbedzadeh, said he was happy to seethe Air France service resume. FredericGagey, the airline’s chief executive,spoke of its “great pride in returning to

Iran”. However, resumption of the serv-ice caused controversy in France afterunions said the airline sent an internalmemo saying female cabin crewwould have to wear trousers on boardwith a loose fitting jacket and mustcover their hair with a scarf when theyleave the plane. —AFP

People walk and fish along the pier in Mytilini port as the sun rises on the Greek island of Lesbos yesterday. Mytilini port was founded in the 11th century BC. — AP

First Air France flight

in 8 years lands in Iran

TEHRAN: An Air France airliner arrives at the Imam Khomeini interna-tional airport in the Iranian capital yesterday. — AFP

Trump foreign policy

alarming the world

NEW YORK: Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump poses for apicture with supporters at the end of a press conference with members ofthe New York Veteran Police Association in Staten Island yesterday. — AFP

Continued from Page 1

to regain market share after the lifting of Western sanc-tions against it in January. After five hours of fierce debateabout the wording of a communique - including betweenSaudi Arabia and Russia - delegates and ministersannounced no deal had been reached. “We need more timeto reach an agreement among all OPEC members and mainproducers to freeze production, which can be by June,” oneOPEC source said.

The failure to reach a global deal could halt a recentrecovery in oil prices. “With no deal today, markets’ confi-dence in OPEC’s ability to achieve any sensible supply bal-ancing act is likely to diminish and this is surely bearish forthe oil markets where prices had rallied partly on expecta-tions of a deal,” said Natixis oil analyst Abhishek Deshpande.“Without a deal, the likelihood of markets balancing arenow pushed back to mid-2017. We will see a lot of specula-tors getting out next week,” he added.

Brent oil has risen to nearly $45 a barrel, up 60 percentfrom January lows, on optimism that a deal would help ease

the supply glut that has seen prices sink from levels as highas $115 hit in mid-2014. Saudi Arabia has taken a toughstance on Iran, the only major OPEC producer to refuse toparticipate in the freeze. Deputy Crown Prince Mohammedbin Salman told Bloomberg that the kingdom could quicklyraise production and would restrain its output only if Iranagreed to a freeze. Iran’s oil minister Bijan Zanganeh said onSaturday OPEC and non-OPEC should simply accept the real-ity of Iran’s return to the oil market: “If Iran freezes its oil pro-duction ... it cannot benefit from the lifting of sanctions.”

Kuwait’s acting oil minister Anas Al-Saleh told reporterson arrival in Doha that “he was optimistic” about the suc-cess of the conference, which took place as thousands of oilworkers in Kuwait began an open-ended strike yesterday toprotest against a government proposal to cut their wages.Kuwaiti oil expert Kamel Al-Harami had said a freeze agree-ment was still possible even without Iran.

“Iran is unable to add more than 500,000 barrels per day(bpd) to its production by the end of the year,” Harami toldAFP in Doha. “I believe this will not greatly impact the meet-ing,” he said. — Agencies

Doha meeting ends without oil freeze