Unsurprising moral idiocy from an unapologetic anti-Semite -- and an allegedly corrupt and evasive one at that. Here's Rep. Ilhan Omar laying blame for Iran's escalations at the feet of the Trump administration's harder-line approach to the outlaw regime, claiming that absent the president's decision to abandon a deeply flawed nuclear deal, "none of this would be happening:"
None of this would be happening if Trump didn't back out of the Iran nuclear deal.
— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN) June 17, 2019
America’s response should be to return to the table and reinstate the Iran nuclear deal.
Increasing tensions and threats of war serve nobody's interests. https://t.co/KGSKGXATPE
A few points: (1) Iran lied about the extent and scope of its nuclear program from the very beginning, a violation of a fundamental prerequisite to the deal. They lie and cheat. Always. (2) There are several indications that Iran has been breaching the agreement on substance, and even pro-JCPOA figures like Barack Obama and the UN's Secretary General have conceded that the regime has been disregarding the 'spirit' of the deal for years, via barred missile tests and other bellicose acts. (3) Iran, under intense economic pressures from biting US sanctions (which are strangling their top terrorist proxy) is now threatening to violate the agreement outright -- unless the international community effectively pays a ransom:
Iran said it would soon exceed limits on its enriched uranium stockpile agreed in a nuclear deal with world powers, increasing the urgency of European efforts to save the landmark accord. The breach, which Tehran said would happen within 10 days, threatens to push the 2015 agreement to total collapse following US President Donald Trump’s withdrawal from the pact last year. It will also stoke already elevated tensions between the Islamic republic and Washington. The White House responded to Iran’s announcement on Monday by accusing it of engaging in “nuclear blackmail”. The Atomic Energy Organisation of Iran said the country’s production of uranium enriched to a low level had increased fourfold and its stockpile would pass a 300kg limit by June 27...The Iranian announcement increases the pressure on the accord’s other signatories — Germany, France, UK, Russia and China — to find ways to counter the impact of crippling US sanctions that Mr Trump reimposed after abandoning the deal. In May, Hassan Rouhani, Iran’s president, set a 60-day deadline for the signatories to deliver tangible measures to enable Iran to export oil and transact with international banks. The deadline is July 7.
If Iran chose to act like a normal country, it would not be under this economic distress. American sanctions and other hardships are the direct result of the rogue regime's ongoing acts of aggression and endless financing and exporting of terrorism. While the regime demands that Europe and other world powers counteract US sanctions, the Trump administration is reportedly considering squeezing Tehran's last lifeline to Western cash through punishing new sanctions. The mullahs are feeling the heat, which explains their brazen terrorist acts in the region in recent days. They're desperate, and they're using provocation as a means of shifting the geopolitical status quo in their favor, perhaps boosted by Obama alum-planted hopes of outlasting the Trump administration. The notion that "none of this would be happening" if not for the Trump administration's exit from the JCPOA (Omar is hardly alone in espousing this talking point) is ludicrous on its face.
Of course the Iranians would still be pursuing a nuclear program. Their actions to this effect were the catalyst for the JCPOA in the first place (with biting sanctions, originally opposed by Obama, forcing Tehran to the table). And of course the Iranians would still be instigating terrorism around the world. They've been the top state sponsor of global terrorism for decades, based on US State Department assessments spanning multiple administrations of both parties. Iran's leaders are a dangerous, anti-American, pro-terrorism, human rights-crushing group of authoritarian thugs. The lopsided agreement they signed onto during the Obama years clears the path for their nuclear ambitions. The Trump administration chose to jettison the non-treaty, which was met with strong bipartisan opposition in Congress. Iran is simply and openly reverting to form. This is not Trump's fault; it is Iran's fault. And the theory that Iran might not be responsible for the latest attacks -- indulged by Mr. Echo Chamber himself -- was destroyed on Sunday by none other than House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff, a liberal Democrat who is, shall we say, not in the habit of carrying the Trump administration's water:
"There's no question that Iran is behind the attacks. I think the evidence is very strong and compelling. This was a class-A screw-up by Iran to insert a mine on the ship. It didn't detonate. They had to go back and retrieve it. I can imagine there are some Iranian heads rolling for that botched operation."
I'll leave you with Allahpundit's breakdown of what might come next, amid Iran's ultimatums, as well as this accidental indictment of the Obama administration by yet another partisan seeking to blame Trump for an outlaw regime's outlaw behavior:
Incredible that she could say this without realizing what a damning indictment this is of the Obama administration’s Iran nuclear deal, which Iran claims to still be complying with. (H/t @NoahCRothman) https://t.co/VnYqtfDXeD
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) June 17, 2019
And here's State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortegas on the issue:
We should not yield to nuclear extortion by the Iranian regime. #Iran pic.twitter.com/XUiMc3NrIM
— Morgan Ortagus (@statedeptspox) June 18, 2019
Join the conversation as a VIP Member