Salon: The Iran Deal Is A Disaster–And Obama Is To Blame

Is this really Salon? The uber-progressive, race-baiting rag that has long been source material for conservatives to get a great laugh over the absurd lengths they go to paint American and the Right as racist, misogynistic, and sexist. Because Carrie Sheffield writes that a) the Iran nuclear deal is a disaster; b) Obama is to blame; and c) the $400 million ransom is proving Republican misgivings to be true:

The State Department officially denied any explicit link between the $400 million payment and the release of prisoners, that this happened entirely coincidentally, not as a tit-for-tat. But it’s baffling why this administration continues to place its blind faith in a theocratic, authoritarian regime that bankrolls terror the world over, from Hamas to Hezbollah to the murderous Assad regime.

“It’s time the State Department stop trusting Iran more than the U.S. Congress,” Michael Rubin, a foreign policy expert at the American Enterprise Institute, told Salon. “The problem isn’t simply the timing of the ransom payment. Rather, it is the fact that Obama and Kerry are acting like gamblers who believe they can win big with just one more throw of the dice, and are willing to sacrifice increasingly more to do so. There simply is no introspection. The whole premise of the Iran deal was that they could work with Iranian reformers and moderates to defeat Iran’s hardliners at home and abroad. They never understood that Supreme Leader Khamenei and President Rouhani were playing an elaborate game of good cop-bad cop.”

[…]

David Ibsen, president of United Against Nuclear Iran, told Salon that the recent detention of Robin Shahini, another U.S. citizen, is further evidence that Washington should be thwarting—not rewarding—Iran’s bad behavior.

“The secret airlifting of $400 million in cash to the Iranian regime is just another example of the United States enabling the nefarious activities of the Ayatollah and his proxies,” he said.

Tzvi Kahn, senior policy analyst at the Foreign Policy Initiative, also pointed out that what happens in Tehran doesn’t stay in Tehran. The ransom not only incentivizes Iran to take more Americans hostage, but it also effectively declared open season on Americans for every rogue regime and terrorist group around the world.

Guy also questioned the whole $400 million payment to begin with as well, noting why would we honor an agreement with a ruling authority that no longer exists in the country. Second, did the administration truly think that this could be sold effectively as a non-ransom...ransom? Additionally, This administration has been a serial liar when it comes to detailing aspects of the Iran nuclear deal. We’re seeing how weak the agreement was, though what else could you expect from a leading state sponsor of terrorism. Oh, and Guy added in this fun fact: Iran is harboring senior al-Qaeda members. Sometimes, Mr. President—you don’t have to engage your enemies–ever.

Now, Sheffield is obviously more right-leaning than most Salon writers (she's written for WSJ, Forbes, etc.), but bravo to her for dropping some truth into this progressive cesspool. But this honeymoon won't last since I'm sure the progressive staff is drafting responses to this piece as we speak.