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Thursday, October 22, 2015

A deal that will live in infamy

Unlike the 'democratic' United States, Iran allowed its parliament to debate and pass the
Joint Comprehensive Program of Action, or JCPOA. The Iranian Majlis took up the JCPOA as a treaty (something that the Obama-Kerry junta would not allow Congress to do), and passed instead a 1000-page bill, which differs markedly from the JCPOA, but which has not yet been fully translated into English. 

The Iranian version shows that Iran has not agreed to the same deal to which the United States Senate thought it was agreeing (the House voted the JCPOA down, but a vote in the Senate was blocked by the Democrats). The Iranian version is so different that it is difficult not to notice.
The Iranian parliamentary bill that “approved” the JCPOA reportedly is 1,000 pages long and has not yet been fully translated into English. According to Amir Taheri, an Iranian-born veteran Western journalist, the bill contains these provisions: 
  • The elimination of Israel’s nuclear arsenal. 
  • Forbids the inspection of any military site and the interviewing of any officers. 
  • Calls for strengthening Iran’s defenses, especially by developing its missile arsenal. 
  • Says the redesign of the Arak heavy-water reactor and its conversion to run on enriched uranium “are conditional to separate deals.” This refers to a JCPOA provision to alter the design and fueling of the Arak reactor so it produces less plutonium. This provision is significant because it implies either that other agreements need to be negotiated to carry out this part of the JCPOA or that undisclosed side deals concerning the Arak reactor exist. 
The Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI) assessed in an October 13, 2015 report that the Iranian parliament ratified “a nonexistent document,” not the JCPOA, because it called for sanctions against Iran to be cancelled and not to be reimposed. By contrast, the nuclear deal calls for sanctions to be suspended and to snap back in the event of Iranian noncompliance. 
MEMRI also reported text in the Iranian parliament bill calling on the government to handle the rapid expansion of the country’s centrifuge program so that within two years, Iran’s enriched-uranium output will reach 190,000 SWUs (separate work units). This would equal about 25 to 28 times the output of the 9,000 centrifuges Iran currently is operating and contradicts Tehran’s JCPOA commitment to only operate 5,060 centrifuges for 10 years. 
According to press reports, Supreme Leader Khamenei issued a letter on October 21 “endorsing” the JCPOA that actually appears to endorse the Iranian parliament’s bill. In the letter, Khamenei demanded that the U.S. and the EU agree in writing that sanctions “are completely canceled” when Iran meets its obligations under the agreement. Khamenei also complained about “ambiguities” in the JCPOA and said any new sanctions against Iran would be a violation of the agreement. 
...
So with Obama officials claiming this week that the JCPOA’s Adoption Day indicated progress and the willingness of all parties to implement the agreement, the truth is that Iran is already violating it and has an entirely different view of the deal from what Obama’s officials have claimed. I am sure Obama’s officials are aware of this, but they are so desperate for the JCPOA to succeed that they are ignoring these violations and finding ways to explain them away, including by contradicting earlier claims that missile sanctions and the PMD issue were part of the nuclear deal.
The amended version of the JCPOA passed by the Iranian parliament is a crucial part of this puzzle. At least one organization in Washington is working to translate this document. Congress must demand the U.S. Intelligence Community translate it ASAP and post online so Congress can consider further action on the nuclear deal. 
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi famously said in March 2010 that “we have to pass the [health care] bill so that you can find out what’s in it. . . . ” This comment is ironic given how Congress is now learning what was really agreed to in the JCPOA after it survived a congressional review last month as well as a January 2014 comment by National Security staffer Ben Rhodes that the Obama administration viewed the Iran deal as its second term Obamacare. 
The deceptions used to pass Obamacare did severe damage to America’s health-care system and caused costs to skyrocket. The deceptions used to sell the nuclear deal with Iran may do far more damage to American interests by providing cover that Iran likely will use to try to become a regional hegemon while continuing its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
Read the whole thing. Unfortunately, much of the sanctions regime has already fallen apart.

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1 Comments:

At 11:12 PM, Blogger Empress Trudy said...

Let's face facts. Obama would never undertake something like this unless it didn't matter. Since it doesn't matter, it's obvious that Iran already is a nuclear state, not a near-nuclear state but an honest to god nuclear state. The IRBM test recently was a political signal to Obama that they have the bomb and they have the missile but the bomb isn't small and sophisticated enough, yet to be used on the missiles they have. But they've lit a fire under Obama telling him that the 14 months he has left to run cover for them may not be enough and to keep up the pressure on the Jews and the Sunnis.

 

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