And let’s not forget the Iran deal
The Biden administration certainly hasn’t forgotten [emphasis mine]:
Admittedly, the [Iranian] regime has more than once pumped the brakes on nuclear diplomacy. This intransigence signaled that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, may not have ever wanted an agreement at all. Rather, he may seek to prolong talks to advance the regime’s nuclear program while avoiding harsh decisions by the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Still, recent news out of Vienna suggests a deal may be imminent, with even more Western concessions.
If at first you don’t succeed in getting a terrible nuclear deal, try try again.
The article goes on to summarize the last couple of decades of Iranian efforts to get nuclear weapons, and the negotiations around that. Here’s a portion of that discussion. You probably recall a lot of this, but read it if your memory could use some refreshing [emphasis mine]:
However, while one American team was building trust with Israel, secret negotiations between the United States and Iran began in Oman in 2012. The talks were led by figures now holding key positions in the Biden administration: National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and CIA Director William Burns, then serving as the State Department’s director of policy planning and deputy secretary of state, respectively. These secret negotiation laid the foundation for both the 2013 interim agreement, formally known as the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA), and the 2015 final agreement, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
In exchange for minimal nuclear concessions, the JPOA granted Iran — for the first time — a de facto authorization to enrich uranium, contravening multiple Security Council resolutions. This concession directly reneged on the Obama administration’s pledge to Israel. The agreement, designed to last six months, lasted two years as Iran and world powers repeatedly extended talks past self-imposed deadlines. The deal effectively rewarded Tehran with cash every month simply for negotiating. Billions of dollars in sanctions relief injected new life into Iran’s sanctions-battered economy.
Betrayal of Israel, concessions and payments to Iran. Then, of course, Trump the Terrible ended all that. But now Biden and company are desperate to go back to those glory days of The Deal:
Israel’s shadow war [against Iran] notwithstanding, the [Iranian] regime’s nuclear advances have rendered a return to the old agreement futile. Iran’s nuclear progress since 2015, and particularly since Biden’s election, is beyond the point of containment. This underscores why the original deal was a mistake. The data disclosed by the nuclear archive, as well as new information obtained by IAEA inspectors since 2015, show that the JCPOA failed to account for the full range of Iranian nuclear activities, including activities that preceded the agreement…
The decision to close the PMD investigation was among the West’s biggest mistakes. Today, the regime insists this issue is not open for discussion. Regime negotiators now demand that all IAEA investigations — new and old — be closed or written off. This is reportedly one of the remaining sticking points in Vienna.
Regardless of the terms of any deal that is reached, the regime in Iran is much closer to a bomb than previously estimated. The IAEA has only recently reached this conclusion, thanks largely to Israeli evidence. The nuclear watchdog appears incapable of fulfilling its mandate independently. This alone raises troubling questions about the feasibility of a sustainable agreement, which would require reliable monitoring and verification.
As far as I can tell, the Iranians are progressing quite nicely without a deal. The question of why Obama and now the Biden administration want one so badly has been debated here and elsewhere for over a decade, but the bottom line is that they do, and they are willing to (and already have) give up a lot to get one.
More:
The Iranian nuclear strategy appears to be based on four assumptions. The first is that the United States, under its current leadership, lacks the will to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities. This view has yielded a second — and erroneous — belief that Israel lacks sufficient capabilities to strike Iran’s nuclear program and will not attack without American support. Third, the Islamic Republic believes its economy can withstand Washington’s current economic pressure, which is significantly weaker than the sanctions of past administrations. And finally, the regime believes it faces no meaningful internal threats to its survival. These four views explain why Tehran has not exhibited any flexibility at the negotiating table.
I have long thought that stopping Iran will be up to Israel. That country’s current leadership is nearly as terrible as ours, but that may be due for a change after the election scheduled to take place there in November. For now [emphasis mine]:
With negotiations now at a pivotal moment, Jerusalem’s primary concern is that Washington will agree to a “JCPOA-minus.” The White House is reportedly willing to offer sanctions relief that goes far beyond the JCPOA’s concessions. In particular, the Biden team has offered to lift sanctions on thousands of individuals and entities, including Iranian banks, the supreme leader, and his inner circle. Moreover, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Rob Malley and his team, together with some EU high officials, have explored ways to comply with the Iranian demand to remove IRGC-related entities from the FTO list despite promises from the White House to the contrary.
Offering additional concessions to the regime is irresponsible, particularly amidst a spate of regime-inspired attacks and plots on American soil.
Since when did that ever stop them?
A great deal more at the link, including what I consider an unrealistic proposal for a bipartisan Congressional group to demand something better from the Biden administration. I don’t see that more than a sprinkling of Democrats would sign on, if that.
In other Iran-related news, Salman Rushdie’s attacker gave the NY Post a jailhouse interview in which (among other things), he said that he was surprised Rushdie survived. He said, “I respect the ayatollah. I think he’s a great person. That’s as far as I will say about that,” Matar said, noting he only “read like two pages” of Rushdie’s controversial novel. “I read a couple pages. I didn’t read the whole thing cover to cover,” he said.
More at the link, including the news that the perp is being held without bail (partly as a result of that jailhouse interview), that he dislikes the jail’s non-halal food, and that he’s been disowned by his mother:
https://nypost.com/2022/08/17/alleged-salman-rushdie-attacker-didnt-think-author-would-survive/
I have always suspected Barky had a sweet spot for Islam from his childhood days. And Leftists seem to be aligned with Islam so no head banging there. With Barky’s people still in the driver’s seat not surprised they still are trying to give Iran nukes.
That plane load of cash went a long way
Remember that Obama originally tried to present this to the Senate as a treaty. That was quickly shot down so he proceeded to do as he did with so many of his initiatives, as a lawless executive action.
I agree that his motives are mysterious. Others say that he is not that much a Muslim. I would be more impressed with that assertion if we had ever seen his remarks at the farewell party for Rashid Khalidi, which was also attended by Bill Ayres and Bernardine Dohrn.
In Chicago, the Khalidis founded the Arab American Action Network, and Mona Khalidi served as its president. A big farewell dinner was held in their honor by AAAN with a commemorative book filled with testimonials from their friends and political allies. These included the left wing anti-war group Not In My Name, the Electronic Intifada, and the ex-Weatherman domestic terrorists Bernadine Dohrn and Bill Ayers. (There were also testimonials from then-state Senator Barack Obama and the mayor of Chicago.)
Along with Israel, supporting Iranian efforts to get nuclear weapons pisses off the Saudi’s. Why would Saudi Arabia want to help us with producing more oil when we are supporting their rival? The only thing coherent in our foreign policy is that it seems to make our enemies stronger and screw over our allies.
well the perpetrator, met with the iranian revolutionary guard elements in lebanon, which run the iranian regime, as well their satraps in those countries with contingents as far west as nicaragua and venezuela, across the ocean to west africa, (the whole operation cassandra target) which involved a contract employee of the ukrainian arms export division
obama hated the west, for reasons, and Islam is the best messenger to make it accountable, per inside the kingdom, that was ghosted by robert lacey, with material sourced by jamal khashoggi, the Saudis thought he was amenable to their concerns,
Maybe we can bring back the Moslem Brotherhood in Egypt, and give them nuclear weapons. I mean, why not, if we are being stupid, let’s go all the way.
I mean, we already restored the Taliban. If they could, the left would bring Osama back as a zombie.
I never understood the original Iran deal. They get to have nuclear weapons; what do we get in return?
What do we get in return?
That shimmering aura of moral virtue.
For the life of me I do not understand why the morons in Washington believe that striking any deal with Iran is in the best interests of any nation, excepting Iran.
The stupidity and idiocy of those in DC is beyond my ability to describe.
As for Israel, I don’t follow their politics too closely. But if their political leadership heads into la-la land (like we have now in DC and had under Obama and Carter) they are always brought back to planet earth by a few Hamas / PLO launched missiles striking Israel or some other terrorist attack.
It’s amazing how effective missiles landing in your back yard can bring one back to reality real fast.
“This intransigence signaled that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader, may not have ever wanted an agreement at all.
Still, recent news out of Vienna suggests a deal may be imminent, with even more Western concessions.”
MAY NOT have ever wanted an agreement at all?
A perfect example of willful blindness, which will result in the deaths of potentially millions. And no matter how terrible the consequential results theyll never acknowledge their moral cowardice. The death penalty would be an appropriate consequence for such as they.
The Biden administration and those who support appeasement of Iran want “plausible deniability”. Hey! They had a deal! No one could forsee that the Mullahs would be so insane as to actually launch a nuclear attack!
I’m not at all confident that Israel’s current leadership has the will to attack Iran’s nuclear facilities without American support because if they do, they know that there is an excellent chance that the Biden Administration will cut off support for Israel. Leftists are just looking for an event that will provide them an excuse that will hold up against protests in Congress.
There are proportionately speaking, as many appeasers in Israel as in the US.
“I never understood the original Iran deal. They get to have nuclear weapons; what do we get in return?”
These people believe that we are the danger and the cause of the violence in the world. They believe that if Iran had a bomb that would let them feel safe from being invaded by us.
I think that when they get a bomb ready to test the may very well test it in Tel Aviv cause why waste a perfectly good bomb.
I have wondered for years who financed Obama at Occidental and Columbia. As for the Iran deal, I have expressed my opinion at length.
I have always thought of Obama as an empty suit but he seems (or his minders) to be running the Biden regime. Where this is all going, I have no idea. There is no sense of reality about this bunch. They seem oblivious to such matters as national debt and energy policy. Like most Republicans, I just want to be left alone. Increasingly, that seems to be impossible. Trump is the only one who realizes it.
Both mccrystal and petraues joined the hive the first in a psy ops group the second through kkr i think some tie to the wilson center at one point.
Generals kelly mattis mcmaster all betrayed trump now crenshaw castigates tucker for pointing ouf the disastrous afghan pullout
Its like the arms control priesthood that reagan challenged in the 70s while in exile and brought the likes of pipes pere and rowny into govt
Thirty two years since the fatwa and the iranians really havent been very good at building the bomb
Of course one bomb could ruin israels day then again so could 50 nukes targeting arab cities
I am unsure that the Iranian leaders care about mutually assured destruction.
Many of them seem to have the suicide bomber mentality and as for the protecting the rest of the Iranian people if they die they get to be martyrs so what are they complaining about.
Some of the rank and file yes but the ayatollah and the leadership are very sharp allegedly he was traimed at patrice lumumba university he was locked un in evin prison
Time for an updated list?
https://tomlehrersongs.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/12-Whos-Next.mp3
Download lyrics and sheet music here.
https://tomlehrersongs.com/whos-next/
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One can infer intent from the results of an action. One can infer intent from the likely result of an intended action.
Of course, this must allow for a mistake. But the more obvious is the actual result versus that which is in the manufacturers brochure–so to speak–the less it can be presumed to be an error
And when is added endless criticisms, logical arguments, historical lessons, additional facts, and yet the proponent continues to insist this will all end up like the Big Rock Candy Mountain, the certainty is that the likely result is the one intended, and the sales job is a deliberate lie.
So stop wondering what thy are thinking and prepare for the most obvious outcome.
I’ve never understood the why behind the deal. Well maybe the better question is why such a laser focus on this particular deal with this particular country? In the scheme of things, Iran is just another crappy country of little importance to the world, much less us. The quest for this deal is now about a decade old and won’t go away. Why is this country so important? That’s a serious question
The company did allow aq khan to get the bomb for pakistan and this led to north korea libya and iran
Iran has 120 million people larger than germany which is the largest european country, nearly brazils size.
Robert Malley is Yale, Oxford and Harvard Law. He named one of his sons Baby Boy Brown Malley. His dad might have been a hater of Israel.
The exact wrong guy to be negotiating with the Iranians.
Malley sr was a castro and nasser fan he sent his son to the same lycee as blinken son rebelled and went full islamist cheerleading for the algerian cuthroats then hamas in the molotov monthly new york review
Jefferson’s Revenge:
Iran is a huge sponsor of terrorism around the world. It also is the country in the Middle East most hostile to both the US and Israel, as well as to many of its neighbor Arab states. As such, it would be a very bad thing if it became a nuclear power. That’s the supposed genesis of the Deal – the desire to stop it. However, neither Obama nor Biden is negotiating anything that would stop it, so it becomes both a charade and a way to get money to Iran for some unknown reason. Europe also doesn’t like the sanctions on Iran and would like to do business with them.
“…was a mistake…”
NO, NOT a mistake. Most certainly not a mistake.
Not for Obama.
Not for “Biden”…
– – – – – – –
“…the exact wrong guy…”
NO, exactly the right guy…”
(Sense a pattern, yet?…)
“They believe that if Iran had a bomb that would let them feel safe from being invaded by us.” Martin
That’s the lie they use as an excuse for wanting nukes. After all this time, they know the US is not a threat.
The left cannot wrap their head around religious fanaticism, this despite their own ideological fanaticism. Leftists tell themselves that enough money and US ‘nonaggression’ will persuade the Mullahs to see that the US is no longer interested in pushing them around.
Obama’s advisors had some very close ties to Iran. Jarrett especially so. And a Dem congressman once remarked that Obama’s admission and bills were taken care of by a group from the middle east.
Biden probably getting payoffs.
We know that Dem contractors and lawyers have access to all the spy files of the NSA (see FISA Court opinion). Any time it’s hard to understand why someone is doing something (see e.g. Justice Robert’s whiplash turnaround on Obamacare) consider that people running the Dems have all the blackmail material they could ever need.
jarrett was born in iran, when her marxist father, was stationed there,
now I do see the double standard we lavished funds on the Pakistani army and ISI from the time of the wars with India, that’s who we picked, General Zia seemed ok, well he graduated from the school at leavenworth, that’s what mattered, but he spread the madrassas, it wasn’t merely our fault, khan was trained in dutch nuclear reactors, the germans and the french had kickstarted the iranian nuclear program under the Shah, so were copacetic with that point
Why hasn’t this Malley guy been exposed?
He headed? The international crisis group the ones that put that years long wake for khashoggi a brother in arms
Miguel, August 20, 2022 at 12:09 pm
Your comment about 120M for Iran’s population did not happen to “sound right”. This link https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/iran-population says it is 88.5M in 2022, projected to grow to 105M in 2061.
I said about, so its larger than most european countries
Cornhead:
I’m not sure what you mean by “exposed.” He’s certainly been written about. I’ve written about him here and also here. He’s been discussed at Legal Insurrection. That LI post describes how he was booted from the 2008 Obama campaign because he was meeting with Hamas. But of course he was brought back on the scene by Obama to negotiate the Iran Deal. This National Review article from March of 2022 dealt with him, too, in very negative terms that explained where he’s coming from. There was a Commentary article about him in 2014. And Tablet covered the problem with Malley last March. Here’s an excerpt:
What do all these pieces and “exposing” have in common? Only the right cares about any of it, and for the most part only the right reads about it.
Why not just cut to the chase: Iran is the chosen vector of the Left for the destruction of Israel, with nukes as the weapon.
Everything else is just smoke and mirrors.
Neither the Left nor Iran is concerned about collateral damage.
“…cut to the chase….”
“Biden” is taking care of the the BIG SATAN.
Meanwwhile, “his” pals in Mullah-stan (and their pals in Lebanon, Syria and Yemen) will take care of the LITTLE SATAN.
Neat, nifty…and elegant.
(And—I keep forgetting—FOR WORLD PEACE AND THE COMMON GOOD.)
To what extent does the government of Iran represent its people? I recall pictures of Tehran as recently as the 1970s, where it looked like any European city. Women wearing miniskirts and commerce thriving (Google “BBC Iranian Women– before and after the Islamic revolution” for pictures). Then came the fundamentalists. I find it hard to believe that the Iranian women who were 20 in 1975 are impressed with today’s culture there.
That said, I’ve been told that the Iranian nuclear facilities are hard targets and would be difficult to destroy. On the other hand, Iran’s electricity infrastructure is probably a pretty soft target. Why not just tell them what they need to do to shut down their nuclear weapons development and destroy their electrical infrastructure if they fail to comply? Start small to show seriousness and escalate until they cry uncle. Their cost of flipping us off is entirely too low at the moment.
Or are we just going to wait until Isreal solves the problem–possibly at far higher cost to the world?
Leftists crave fealty to Islam.
https://english.alarabiya.net/News/world/2022/08/22/Muslim-World-League-chief-says-Rushdie-attack-unacceptable-to-Islam