In his today at American University on the Iran nuclear arms deal, President Obama asked for critics to evaluate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on its own merits. 鈥淯nfortunately,鈥� said Obama, 鈥渨e're living through a time in American politics where every foreign policy decision is viewed through a partisan prison, evaluated by headline-grabbing sound bites, and so before the ink was even dry on this deal, before Congress even read it, a majority of Republicans declared their virulent opposition. Lobbyists and pundits were suddenly transformed into armchair nuclear scientists.鈥�
In other words, while Obama called for bipartisanship he tarred those skeptical of the deal as partisan hacks who don鈥檛 know what they鈥檙e talking about and are influenced by foreign governments鈥擨srael鈥檚, to be precise, which, according to Obama, is the only entity in the world that does not support the JCPOA.
The reality however is that the U.S. public doesn鈥檛 like the agreement. A recent poll from and another from show the same thing鈥擜merican voters oppose the deal by a margin of 2 to 1. Sure, they鈥檙e not all nuclear experts like energy secretary Ernest Moniz, but you don鈥檛 have to get too far into the weeds to know that it鈥檚 a bad agreement. In fact, all you really need to do is pay attention to the news coming out of Iran to know that this deal is worthless.
At Commentary, Michael Rubin Iran is very clear that it won鈥檛 allow inspectors into the nuclear facilities that really matter鈥攖he military sites. 鈥淭he latest to speak up is Ali Akbar Velayati,鈥� writes Rubin,
a former foreign minister who was promoted upwards to the Office of the Supreme Leader. Yesterday, he , 鈥淭he arrival of any foreigner, including inspectors of the IAEA or any other inspector, to our sensitive military sites is forbidden in any situation.鈥� That position 鈥� straight from the Supreme Leader鈥檚 office 鈥� seems to make moot the compromise at which the IAEA and Iran supposed arrived to enable managed inspections so long as were on the inspection teams.
A Bloomberg View report that the Iranians are already sanitizing other sites in the event of an IAEA inspection: 鈥淭he U.S. intelligence community has informed Congress of evidence that Iran was sanitizing its suspected nuclear military site at Parchin.鈥�
The Iranians are also very clear that, unlike the White House, they themselves make no distinctions between hardliners and so-called moderates. the leader of the Basij Forces, Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Reza Naqdi.
John Kerry Jeffrey Goldberg that the deal will empower moderates like his Iranian counterpart Javad Zarif, but in Vienna last month Zarif lectured Kerry and the other P5+1 representatives on the virtues of IRGC-Quds Force commander Qassem Suleimani. "Do you know who you are talking about?鈥� said Zarif.
Do you know that the Iranian nation appreciates them for their bravery and sacrifices in defending their homeland against Saddam's aggression? When aggressive Saddam had all types of weapons in his hand and your governments had closed all paths to Iran's access to arms supplies, the young IRGC forces defended our country with their blood and sacrifices. Our people are thankful to them鈥� You'd better stop showing to the Iranian nation that you are standing opposed to the IRGC.
Kerry might not mind being threatened by the representatives of a criminal regime that targeted American soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, but the American public won鈥檛 stand for it. They think it鈥檚 a bad deal because they don鈥檛 trust Iran to keep its end of the bargain. They don鈥檛 want war any more than the president we elected, but we also don鈥檛 want our commander-in-chief to be acting like Iran鈥檚 lawyer and relaying threats on behalf of the clerical regime.
The point that Obama was at pains to drive home this morning was that it鈥檚 either this deal or another Middle East war. But as one of Israel鈥檚 former national security advisors Yaakov Amidror , 鈥渢his agreement will likely and necessarily lead to the use of force against Iran, at some stage or other, in order to halt its race toward nuclear weapons. This, however, will take place in far worse conditions than before the agreement, against a far stronger Iran.鈥�
It seems that the American voter think a little more highly of Obama and Kerry than they do of themselves. The president and his top diplomat keep saying they can鈥檛 do any better than the JCPOA, but Americans, by a margin of 2 to 1, are saying do better. What they鈥檙e saying is, stop calling us disloyal, stop threatening us with war, and go get us a real agreement that ensures our peace, an American peace.