Posted on 03/24/2015 7:04:07 AM PDT by nuconvert
Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has cancer. After him are men even less likely to comply with a nuclear deal.
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Negotiators from Iran and the P5+1 powers led by the U.S. are racing against a March 31 deadline to conclude a nuclear deal in Lausanne, Switzerland. Secretary of State John Kerry told reporters on Saturday that negotiators had made “genuine progress” but that “important gaps remain.”
Yet what happens if the Iranian leadership that the U.S. and others are dealing with now is not in place to implement any agreement? Two recent developments suggest that the Islamic Republic may be heading toward one of its cyclical spasms of intense factional competition. The outcome could derail any deal, or leave the West committed to an agreement that is even less verifiable or useful than it might be today. There is scant evidence that the Obama administration is taking this into account.
The first warning was in September, with the news that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, age 75, had undergone treatment for prostate cancer.
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The second development was the election earlier this month of Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a hard-line mullah, to head the Assembly of Experts, the clerical body that selects and nominally oversees the supreme leader.
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Or the IRGC, which is estimated to control at least a third of Iran’s economy and is expanding its influence across the Arab world, might decide to take the reins directly and push the mullahs aside.
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A nightmare scenario would arise if the more messianic, fanatical elements in the IRGC stage a coup after Mr. Khamenei’s death, capture the Assembly of Experts and appoint as leader someone like Ayatollah Yazdi ...
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
pong
Thanks.
It’s going to get a lot worse before any inkling of it getting any better!
And what will the Republicans, Democrats, and the military do if Iran sends bombs to a couple of our cities and the Prez tries to surrender, i.e., “negotiate a deal” with the Iranians?
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