May 8, 2018—Art of the Deal Test!

“The Iran nuclear deal is a terrible one for the United States and the world. It does nothing but make Iran rich and will lead to catastrophe.” ~ Donald Trump Tweet

Later today or certainly by May 12^th, President Trump will decide the future of the Joint Cooperative Plan of Action (JCPOA), colloquially known as the Iran Deal; or as he has called it, the “Terrible Iran Deal” since during his campaign as noted above — and also “insane” and the “worst deal ever.”

Since he was elected President, he has announced that he will not re-certify the Deal — which actually is an “unsigned, unenforceable arrangement” — but he has left open the possibility that it might be modified to become acceptable.

Most particularly, he has correctly emphasized that the Deal’s provisions:

Are unverifiable;
Actually legitimize a certain pathway for Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, and
Do nothing to limit Iran’s development of ballistic missiles that can deliver nuclear weapons — while
- Removing the sanctions that had previously restrained Iran’s steady progress toward gaining a nuclear capability, thereby
- Enabling Iran to purchase from its ally North Korea whatever nuclear and ballistic missile technology it cannot do itself.

It is indeed such a terrible deal that it makes one wonder how it ever came to be, and why the alleged “co-signatories” ever permitted it to come into being. See below for the happy band of representatives of Iran and six world powers — the US, the UK, Russia, France, China, and Germany — after their July 14, 2015 approval of President Obama’s key foreign policy achievement.

Then the Washington establishment sought to deal with what they had produced — if they could determine what had actually been agreed. All the while, the Iranians have persistently charged, “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”

Click here for the State Department’s review of the JCPOA, which claims its purpose is to ensure that Iran’s nuclear program will be “exclusively peaceful.” The JCPOA came into effect on October 18, 2015 and its participants began taking steps to implement their commitments. January 16, 2016 actually was JCPOA “Implementation Day” . . . after it cleared congressional resistance.

After the Obama administration claimed Iran was verifiably meeting its JCPOA commitments, the United States and the European Union lifted nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, releasing billions of dollars for Iran to use as it wished.

No doubt Iran continued, and continues, its longstanding efforts to gain nuclear weapons — whatever its claims. As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed the world last week, Iran has been unswervingly pursuing this goal for years. He stated that Iran has been “brazenly lying” and hiding the evidence. He had already briefed President Trump, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and European counterparts. Click here for the Prime Minister’s exhaustive 16 minute discussion of his claims about that history, as backed up by a myriad of exhaustive Israeli documentation.

This truth also should have been evident in 2015 even after the happy picture above — and as the Obama administration was alleging otherwise about the JCPOA. If this truth had been acknowledged, then gaining congressional support for the JCPOA might have been impossible, even in the Democrat-controlled House and Senate. It was problematic as it was.

By no means was it an agreement like those previously approved by Congress. Certainly it passed through nothing like the ratification process required for a treaty, as indeed it should have been considered to be. But the Obama administration knew that such ratification by two-thirds of the Senate was impossible.

A number of us became active in seeking to inform congress about the JCPOA’s deficiencies. For example, on September 2, 2015, I joined 55 other former senior officials and foreign policy experts who warned President Obama and our congressional leaders of the faults of the Deal to no avail.

Notably, Ambassador John Bolton — now President Trump’s National Security Advisor — signed that letter. I am certain his views have not changed — but as he has stated, the President is “the decider.”

As we await the events this afternoon and subsequently, consider a brief review of past considerations. Click here for our September 3, 2015 press release, here for our day-before letter to the President and here for our detailed supporting analysis. Click here for my September 1, 2015 message “Countdown to a Very Bad Deal,” regrettably a preview of what was to come, in spite of efforts seeking to inform our representatives of JCPOA faults, hoping that so informed they would not go along with the Obama administration’s deal.

I still stand behind those positions about concerns that have not been reduced by subsequent events, even while apologists for the Deal continue to try to soft peddle those major deficiencies.

Witness that former Secretary of State John Kerry, who must have set a “shuttle diplomacy” record in his multiple flights to negotiate the deal, is now again operating in that mode to lobby with our European partners and Iran for the Deal to continue — clearly not in concert with the Trump administration. (What was that alleged Democrat concern about violations of the Logan Act?)

And click here for a video of Former Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz on Sunday’s CNN Fareed Zakaria GPS, continuing his more than dubious claims that the terms for which he was a principal negotiator are exceptionally verifiable. They most certainly are not. For example, those monitoring the deal essentially are limited to look only where the Iranians permit.

In any case, there is plenty of blame to go around, including among Republicans who permitted this terrible deal to politically bind the United States to an unverifiable “unsigned unenforceable arrangement” rather than insisting that it be treated as a Treaty that never would have been ratified by the Senate.

Click here for my October 20, 2015 message “Such a Deal — and a Hall of Shame,” which lists the vote to stop a filibuster of the Deal, including not a single Republican. That vote permitted that terrible agreement to come into being. President Obama had just stated the following:

“Today marks an important milestone toward preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and ensuring its nuclear program is exclusively peaceful going forward. . . . I welcome this important step forward. And we, together with our partners, must now focus on the critical work of fully implementing this comprehensive resolution that addresses our concerns over Iran’s nuclear program.” ~ President Barak Obama, October 18, 2015 . . .

Really???? Certainly he and his administration own the conditions created by the “Terrible Iran Deal.”

What may have been most important was the Deal’s removal of sanctions, providing considerable funds to Iran that could be used to buy from its ally North Korea whatever it needs to build nuclear weapons and the means for their delivery. This reality adds to the issues that President Trump should take up with Kim Jong Un in their pending talks. Hopefully, his demonstrated consistency in dealing with Iran will strengthen his hand with North Korea.

How does that old saying go . . . “What a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” ~ Sir Walter Scott.

Can’t wait to see how the “Art of the Deal” turns out this time.

Stay tuned . . .

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