Of all the serious issues the US could tackle, the same foolhardy Democrats who brought us the misguided Iran Nuclear Deal in 2015 (JCPOA) are trying to sneak across a new version that immediately showers Iran with cash in return for dubious future promises.
The deal isn”t the “longer and stronger” agreement Joe Biden promised last year. He waited for Iran, and he was rejected. No, in a risible retreat, the Biden Administration is now pursuing some sort of “understanding” with the Ayatollahs to get everyone to the brink of a nuclear breakout, but no further.
Iran has enriched uranium to 60% purity for several nuclear weapons and can achieve weapons-grade quickly. But the U.S. isn”t asking the mullahs to turn over enriched material instead, the deal offers financial relief for Iran by promising no new sanctions or International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) censures while requesting only that Tehran not enrich uranium beyond that 60%.
I”ve been writing about this for years. It doesn”t take a skeptic to believe it unlikely that an unwritten agreement &mdash without congressional input or technical restrictions &mdash would compel a wanton regime to reinstall monitoring equipment, turn over data and submit to enhanced inspections. Nobody knows what role the IAEA would play, and the U.S. risks Iranian withdrawal if we responded meaningfully to Iran”s foreign aggression or domestic crackdowns.
With no trust and little verification, the White House”s new strategy is hope, pay, and pray they can push the issue past the 2024 presidential election.
So for political reasons, Biden is freeing up billions of dollars to finance the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its menacing imperialism across the Middle East. Iran also wants billions more in return for releasing three American hostages they”ve held for several years. In case of a deal, expect the White House to insist these are not ransom payments.
Iranian theocrats could take our money and accumulate more highly enriched uranium, expand its tunnels to protect nuclear facilities from attack, and otherwise prepare to develop nuclear weapons. When the “understanding” inevitably crumbles, the Islamic Republic will be stronger globally.
This White House suffers from the inability to distinguish between allies and enemies.
The farcical agreement &mdash likely based on a virtual handshake &mdash is arranged so that Biden can avoid an unpopular vote in Congress shrewdly. This wholly violates the spirit of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act that passed in May 2015 to block Barack Obama from circumventing Congress by unilaterally relieving sanctions with his toothless JCPOA two months later.
Iran isn”t pausing its hatred toward the U.S. and our allies Tehran is sending drones to support Russia against Ukraine, while its proxies in Iraq and Syria have killed Americans in recent months.
“Once the sanctions are lifted, President Zelenskyy can say that when an Iranian drone is fired on a Ukrainian position, “the United States paid for that,'” GOP Fundraiser Eric Levine recently wrote. “When Hamas fires missiles out of Gaza or Hezbollah launches rockets out of Lebanon at Israeli cities, Israelis can say, “the United States paid for that.” Most offensively, when an Iranian drone attacks American service members in Syria, the parents of the dead and wounded can say, “America”s Commander-In-Chief paid for that.” So, what does America get out of this? America gets absolutely nothing.”
Team Biden is incapable of taking no for an answer. They have convinced themselves they must have any deal, no matter how counterproductive.
Simply getting Tehran to lend an ineffectual “yes” to something has replaced stopping its nuclear program as a priority.
A.J. (Ari) Kaufman is a correspondent for several U.S. newspapers and magazines from Minnesota and Ohio to Tennessee and Virginia. He taught school and served as a military historian before beginning his journalism career. He is the author of three books and a frequent guest on radio programs, and contributes to Israel National News and here at The Lid.
