Report: Tillerson Fired Because He Was Directly Undermining Trump's Efforts to Get Europe to Agree to Tougher Positioning on Iran

Trump's position on the Iran Deal is apparently this: If the European states which used to join us in economic sanctions before Obama let them out of it agree to force Iran to agree to actual inspections, performed by people called "Not the Iranian Government itself," of suspected nuclear sites, and agreed to limitations on ballistic missile technology, etc., then Trump would go along with the Iran Deal for a while.

It was Rex Tillerson's job to go out to the European states and sell them on this.

Instead, of course, he walked back from what Trump was demanding and instead made softer offers he was never authorized to make -- to appease Iran.

You know -- gross insubordination of the actual chief foreign policy officer of the United States. And also, appeasement of Iran, in a way that the TruCon Crying Eagle Brigade like to pretend they're opposed to.

The abrupt firing Tuesday of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson follows months of infighting between the State Department and White House over efforts by Tillerson to save the Iran nuclear deal and ignore President Donald Trump's demands that the agreement be fixed or completely scrapped by the United States, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the situation who spoke to the Washington Free Beacon.

In the weeks leading up to Tillerson's departure, he had been spearheading efforts to convince European allies to agree to a range of fixes to the nuclear deal that would address Iran's ongoing ballistic missile program and continued nuclear research.

While Trump had prescribed a range of fixes that he viewed as tightening the deal's flaws, Tillerson recently caved to European pressure to walk back these demands and appease Tehran while preserving the deal, according to these sources. The Free Beacon first disclosed this tension last week in a wide-ranging report.

White House allies warned Tillerson's senior staff for weeks that efforts to save the nuclear deal and balk on Trump's key demands regarding the deal could cost Tillerson his job, a warning that became reality Tuesday when Trump fired Tillerson by tweet.

Yesterday, the conspiracy theorists all proposed their newest conspiracy theory (which apparently occurred to them all nearly spontaneously) that Trump had fired Tillerson because Tillerson had endorsed the UK's conclusion that Russia had attempted to assassinate a defector living in Europe, and Trump couldn't have anyone saying anything about Vlad.

Apparently these geniuses did not know about the long-simmering tension about the Iran Deal (though the Free Beacon says they reported on just that last week).

And look at that -- they did report on it last week.

Iran is undertaking a massive buildup of its ballistic missile program, sparking fears of a "second Holocaust" amid sensitive international negotiations that could see the Trump administration legitimize Iranian missiles capable of striking Israel, according to multiple sources familiar with ongoing diplomatic talks.

As the Trump administration and European allies continue discussions aimed at fixing a range of flaws in the landmark Iran nuclear deal, sources familiar with the progression of these talks say the United States is caving to European demands limiting restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program.

While the Trump administration went into the negotiations with a hardline stance on cutting off Iran's ballistic missile program, it appears the United States [that is, Tillerson -- ace] is moving closer in line with European positions that would only regulate a portion of the missiles.

Multiple sources with knowledge of the ongoing talks told the Washington Free Beacon U.S. officials [Tillerson] have been backpedaling on key demands originally proposed by President Trump in order to preserve the agreement and appease European allies who are eager to continue doing business with Tehran.

Senior Trump administration officials recently told the Free Beacon the United States is prepared to abandon the nuclear deal if European allies fail to address what it views as a range of flaws in the nuclear deal that have enabled Iran's missile buildup and allowed it to continue critical nuclear research.

However, it appears the United States is losing ground in the talks, moving closer to the European position, which includes what insiders described as only cosmetic changes to the nuclear deal that fail to adequately address Iran's massive missile buildup.

But the #SmartSet [citation needed] didn't know any of this, and just did their #TwitterHotTakes and claimed Tillerson was fired on Putin's orders.

You know -- like MSNBC and HuffPo bloggers did.

They pose as the #SmartSet, but you'll notice they do not reason -- they seethe. They are motivated, like the shittier class of bloggers tend to be, by little more than emotion, primarily anger and hate.

Oh, and conspiracy theorizing. Lots and lots of uniformed, childish conspiracy theorizing.

Oh, and also, fellas -- Trump endorsed the UK's claims about Russia attempting the assassination, too.

Strike two against your conspiracy theory:

Oh, and one more point -- as Conservative Review points out...

Third, and this is really where the "Putin told Trump to fire Rex" narrative is exposed as utter idiocy, Mike Pompeo is tougher on Russia than Tillerson and has been so for years.

Indeed, the Conspiracy Theorists objected to Tillerson back when he was floated as a nominee precisely because, they claimed, he was too close to Russia.

But now swapping him out for Cold Warrior Mike Pompeo is some kind of favor to Putin!

Strike three.

Read more, tweet less.

Think more, seethe less.

And dial it down on the conspiracy theories. Just because your TwitterPalz agree with your conspiracy theories does not render them into something other than conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories often attract a broad range of emotionally-embittered people who all agree vociferously with the conspiracy theory the group has nuttered itself into believing.

By the way, Adam Schiff has told me to invite you guys to apply to his House investigation staff. He says he likes the cut of your respective jibs and would further like to subscribe to your newsletters.

Oh, and as you make your final official exits from conservative politics, you might want to drop off a resume at Jezebel. I think you'd get on well with them.

posted by Ace at 12:28 PM

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