The Iran Deal’s Disastrous Legacy Has Nothing to Do with Nukes

Commentary Magazine ^ | May 2018 | Noah Rothmans

[CondoleezzaProtege]

In March, State Department veteran and former adviser to Barack Obama, Frederic Hof, bid farewell to public life with a stunning admission. Amid a confession regarding his failure to prevent the expansion of the Syrian civil war into a regional crisis, Hof laid the blame for that all-consuming conflict (as well as a notable uptick in Russian aggression) at the feet of Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.

The administration sacrificed Syrian civilians and American credibility for the mistaken notion that Iran required appeasement in Syria as the price for a nuclear agreement,” Hof wrote. Today, with 500,000 dead, millions displaced, and the norm prohibiting chemical-weapons use shattered, we can confirm that the price of appeasement is as high as ever.

Indeed, the Iran nuclear deal was supposed to have a variety of positive knock-on effects entirely unrelated to the development of nuclear weapons, but they never materialized. As New York Times reporters David Sanger and David Kirkpatrick observe, Obama “regarded Iran as potentially a more natural ally” of the United States than America’s Sunni allies in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. Iran is urbane, young, educated, and chafing under its theological government. The opening up of the Iranian economy in a post-deal world, so the thinking went, would facilitate—even necessitate—domestic liberalization. Purely out of self-interest, the Mullahs would soon agree to pare back their support for destabilizing activities in the region and cooperate with the West to “defeat the Islamic State.”

All these ambitious objectives went unrealized in the years that passed since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) adoption.

[CondoleezzaProtege]

This is what “moderate, internationalist leadership” in the Islamic Republic of Iran looks like. Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s supposedly moderate credentials led Barack Obama to attempt to elevate and legitimize him through direct personal contacts, but there is nothing moderate about any element of the Iranian regime. A half a million deaths later and with no end in sight, this moderate Iranian president continues to back up the blood-soaked Assad regime. It has used the unfrozen assets and access to new markets attributable to the Iran deal to increase its defense spending by 30 percent and augment its support for rogue elements in Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, and Yemen even as consumer-goods prices skyrocket and the public takes to the streets. This is the moderate regime that holds American sailors hostage and parades them on television in violation of the Geneva Conventions. This regime persecutes and jails journalists, disenfranchises Christians, and executes homosexuals. These acts, Rouhani said in 2014, are “God’s commandments.”

[Mouton]

Maybe someone should ask the pos his opinion about this under oath and without a TelePrompTer.

[RockyTx]

this story is just made up.

...................

what Iranians want is ...
for the 12th Imam to come back

food

[Lurkinanloomin]

Maybe someone should investigate how an ineligible British subject/Kenyan/Indonesian with forged documents usurped the office of President.

[BeauBo]

“Hof laid the blame for that all-consuming conflict (the expansion of the Syrian civil war into a regional crisis) (as well as a notable uptick in Russian aggression) at the feet of Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.”

The biggest refugee crisis since WWII. Major cities (like Mosul) devastated. Nobel Peace Prize check cleared the bank...

[killermosquito]

How much did the Iranians kickback to 0bama and ValJar?

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Obama “regarded Iran as potentially a more natural ally” of the United States than America’s Sunni allies in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh.

Considering it is the Sunni, not the Shia, who have flown airplanes into buildings, bombed marathons and subways, shot up nightclubs, concerts and recruiting stations, Obama might be right for a change.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Khamenei may say there is no difference but actions speak louder than words. Body counts speak louder than words also. And 9-11, Boston, San Bernadino tell me that there is a greater danger than Iran. While we should not be allies with Iran either, we should take a hands off posture and let the nations of the Middle East balance each other. Eliminating Iran as a regional power removes the last local counterweight to Sunni extremism.

[SunkenCiv]

New York Times reporters David Sanger and David Kirkpatrick observe, Obama “regarded Iran as potentially a more natural ally” of the United States than America’s Sunni allies in Cairo, Abu Dhabi, and Riyadh. Iran is urbane, young, educated, and chafing under its theological government. The opening up of the Iranian economy in a post-deal world, so the thinking went, would facilitate—even necessitate—domestic liberalization. Purely out of self-interest, the Mullahs would soon agree to pare back their support for destabilizing activities in the region and cooperate with the West to “defeat the Islamic State.” All these ambitious objectives went unrealized in the years that passed since the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’s (JCPOA) adoption.

Yeah, it's almost as if the 'urbane, young, educated' Iranians living under the Islamic occupation regime realized they could expect no help in overthrowing the dictatorship and gave up hope. And that's exactly what Obama, Biden, Kerry, and the rest of the criminal cadre intended to happen. Thanks CondoleezzaProtege.

[AlaskaErik]

ValJar and her stooge had no interest in anything other than helping the mullahs achieve their objective of being the regional powerhouse. The so-called nuclear deal was never intended to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. Quite the opposite, it was intended to legitimize the process.

[miniTAX]

“Iran is urbane, young, educated”

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Looking at the Western youth, I translate that to: Iranians are brainwashed leftists, intolerant, foolish and evil.