UPDATE: Katie wrote today that National Security Adviser Susan Rice admitted that some of that money will be spent on "bad behavior." You know, like terrorism and such.
It (almost immediately) pumps more than $100 billion into the regime's economy, providing Tehran with desperately-needed resources to step up its habitual terrorism abetment and toxic regional meddling. It eschews the sort of solid anytime/anywhere snap inspections regime proponents of the deal promised repeatedly. It permits Iran to maintain its infamous underground nuclear facility -- long seen as an emblem of Iranian lawlessness and non-compliance. It allows Tehran to press forward with research and development on advanced-level centrifuges. Astonishingly, it caves to Iran's preposterous 11th-hour demands by accommodating the lifting of both the UN arms embargo and sanctions against the regime's illegal ballistic missile program -- issues that were allegedly off the table for Western negotiators. (Similarly, Iran's uniquely pernicious support for terrorism, ongoing illegal detainment of multiple US citizens, and genocidal hostility to Israel were also untouchable -- while apparently nothing was off-limits for Iran's delegation). It guarantees that even if Iran were to abandon its incurable habit of cheating and lying by fully complying with the agreement, the country would emerge as a threshold nuclear-armed state in just over a decade.
Now, as for the unfrozen $150 billion that will go to Iran, Secretary Kerry assures us that Iran will keep its word and not use the money to fund Shiite militias in neighboring countries, or fund Hezbollah because the deal says so. As Kerry told Judy Woodruff of PBS News Hour, “they’re not allowed to do that. They’re not allowed to do that outside even with this agreement. There’s a UN resolution that specifically applies to them not being allowed to transfer to Hezbollah. They are specifically not allowed under another UN resolution to transfer to the Shi’a militia in Iraq.”
Yeah, I’m not sleeping any better with these remarks (are you kidding me, Kerry?). I’m not one to be all doom and gloom, but who expects the Iranians to actually honor any of these agreements? I mean, how is that even a serious subject of conversation. Like North Korea, UN resolutions and arms negotiations fared poorly. The North Koreans did get the bomb. They did circumvent the Agreed Framework by having a covert uranium enrichment program that was exposed by the CIA in 2002, and the geopolitical situation in Asia.
Any UN resolution should be expected to have the same diplomatic fate, especially with a rogue nation like Iran. After all, they’ve sponsored Hezbollah since its inception following Israel’s 1982 invasion of Lebanon. It’s most likely going to carry very little weight.
(H/T PowerlineBlog)
Join the conversation as a VIP Member