Former Biden Aide: Rejoining Nuclear Deal is “High” on Biden’s Agenda
Biden intends to strengthen Iran when he is in office. Iran supported his campaign. Collusion anyone?
A former aide to Joe Biden said that the former vice president considers rejoining the nuclear deal with Iran to be a priority within his administration’s first few months.
Amos Hochstein, who served in the Obama administration, told Israel’s Channel 12 news that returning to the deal was “high on [Biden’s] agenda.”
“I believe that in the first months [of Biden’s presidency], we’ll either see him rejoin the deal fully, or what I would call ‘JCPOA-minus,’ meaning lifting sanctions in exchange for suspending some of the Iranian nuclear programs [developed] in the past three years,” Hochstein told the news program.
?This is very dangerous! The ghost of the disastrous “Obama Legacy” is looming over the Middle East as a Biden Administration might be on its way to the White House. We will have to wait and see…but returning to the Iran Nuclear deal would be a disaster. #Iran pic.twitter.com/2d3Eiad1YJ
— Hayvi Bouzo هيفي بوظو (@hayvibouzo) November 8, 2020
Given that Biden was the vice president during the Obama administration when the nuclear deal was completed, this is hardly surprising. It’s also exactly what Iran wants.
On Sunday, AP reported that Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani called on Biden to return to the nuclear deal.
Hassan Rouhani’s comments mark the highest-level response from Iran to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris clinching the Nov. 3 election.
“Now, an opportunity has come up for the next U.S. administration to compensate for past mistakes and return to the path of complying with international agreements through respect of international norms,” the state-run IRNA news agency quoted him as saying.
(I’m sure that when Biden obliges Rouhani, we’ll see a burst of articles criticizing him for coddling dictators.)
My suggestions to @JoeBiden from before the elections:
Your Iran Plan Needs To Focus More On Human Rights.
Islamic Republic has sanctioned us, the Iranians, for 41 years from our basic rights. We need moral leadership from the U.S. president to help us https://t.co/l7elGg0FXF— Masih Alinejad ?️ (@AlinejadMasih) November 7, 2020
The JTA uncritically explained Biden’s thinking behind his proposed rapprochement with Iran:
Biden has faulted Trump for exiting the Iran nuclear deal. Trump said the deal, which exchanged sanctions relief for a rollback of Iran’s nuclear capability, was too generous and not strict enough. Israel’s Netanyahu government was in agreement with Trump; Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied intensely against the deal, which was brokered by President Barack Obama, and which Biden helped sell to Congress.
Trump’s withdrawal angered European partners to the deal and has pushed Iran’s economy to the brink of collapse — but it has done nothing to stem Iran’s nuclear development. In fact, since the U.S. pullout, Iran has accelerated its nuclear development, blaming the United States for violating the deal.
Biden wants back in, in part because he wants to repair ties with Europe, and also because he believes the deal is the best means of keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. He has said he wants to make it stricter, extending the “sunset clauses,” which allow Iran to wind down some of the restrictions. Not so clear is whether Biden would want restrictions on Iran’s missile program and its regional adventurism rolled into a renewed deal.
The false premise behind the JTA’s reporting is that with the nuclear deal in place and Iran’s ability to block IAEA inspections, we would have had no idea how far Iran’s nuclear research progressed. Incredibly, the JTA article doesn’t even mention Israel’s discovery of Iran’s nuclear archive or nuclear warehouse that gave much more insight into the extent of Iran’s nuclear program than the nuclear deal did.
It is well and good that the JTA mentioned at the end that it isn’t clear “whether Biden would want restrictions on Iran’s missile program and its regional adventurism rolled into a renewed deal.” However, it is clear that Iran would accept no such restrictions. So if Biden is serious about reengaging with Iran, he will not insist on these new demands. Presumably, Biden would also roll back the Trump administration’s extension of the arms embargo. This would allow Iran to buy advanced weapons systems from Russian and China without fear of American sanctions. (Iran regularly violated the arms embargo over the first five years of the nuclear deal, shipping weapons to Hezbollah and Houthis in Yemen. And yes, the UN confirmed this.)
Even if the JTA is correct that the US withdrawal from the deal led to an acceleration of Iran’s nuclear weapons program, contrary to the Obama administration’s claims, the deal was never limited to Iran’s nuclear program. It was a paradigm shift to give Iran more freedom to act in the Middle East. This was the thesis of critics such as Tony Badran and Michael Doran. Even deal supporter, Thomas Friedman, recognized this, writing in 2015:
But, given the disarray in Yemen, Iraq and Syria, do we really care if Iran tries to play policeman there and is embroiled in endless struggles with Sunni militias? For 10 years, it was America that was overstretched across Iraq and Afghanistan. Now it will be Iran’s turn.
During the Obama administration, things got much worse in Yemen, Iraq, and Syria thanks to the green light the deal gave them. One of the Trump administration’s accomplishments has been to counter Iran’s influence. In part through American force (e.g., the killing of Soleimani) and rallying its allies (Israel and the Gulf States) to counter Iran’s aggression. Also, renewed sanctions have forced Iran to choose between domestic spending and foreign adventures. Iran hasn’t given up the foreign adventures, so the regime is dealing with an increasingly restive population even as it attempts to spread its influence abroad.
If elections were held tomorrow among the millions of displaced Syrians, I think Trump would have won. Many Syrian give him credit for assassinating Soleimani, whose militias drove them from their homes and killed their loved-ones.
(I support Biden)— Elizabeth Tsurkov (@Elizrael) November 2, 2020
Not only did the nuclear deal fail to constrain Iran’s nuclear program and serve as a green light to increase its regional aggression. It was passed by a White House that sought to discredit its opponents and had no problem suggesting that those opposed to the deal had dual loyalty. Even Tablet, a centrist Jewish online magazine, noted that the administration and its allies engaged in the “kind of naked appeal to bigotry and prejudice that would be familiar in the politics of the pre-Civil Rights Era South.”
So when many in the MSM are hailing a return to civility, Biden is expressing an interest to return to a failed deal that was launched in a climate of vilification and hate.
Clip circulating in Iran on WhatsApp; an interview with Zarif from several years ago.
Reporter asks him to confirm if he’s friends with any US officials, he responds that when he was ambo at UN, he was allowed extensive meetings with senators, one of whom was Joe #Biden pic.twitter.com/c1NNxshmhq
— Golnar Motevalli (@golnarM) November 7, 2020
Aside from the particulars of Biden’s anticipated return to the nuclear deal, there are real concerns about the man who will be leading this effort. As a senator, Biden was one US official who was known for his talks with Iranian FM Javad Zarif.
Here’s how Biden described the phony smiling face of the world’s leading state sponsor of terror:
“Zarif is a tough advocate, but he’s also pragmatic, not dogmatic,” Biden told me then. “He can play an important role in helping to resolve our significant differences with Iran peacefully.”
Over the weekend, Zarif demonstrated how pragmatic he is. Celebrating the apparent Biden win, Zarif tweeted:
A sincere message to our neighbors:
Trump's gone in 70 days
But we'll remain here forever
Betting on outsiders to provide security is never a good gamble
We extend our hand to our neighbors for dialog to resolve differences
Only together can we build a better future for all.
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) November 8, 2020
That’s pragmatic, in the sense that the statement, “nice peace deal you’ve got there, it would be a shame if anything would happen to it,” is pragmatic. It is a veiled threat against the UAE and Bahrain for making peace deals with Israel. Despite the smile, Zarif is truly the thuggish face of the regime.
Misled by a phony charm, Joe Biden thinks that he can do business with Zarif and the regime he represents. How many thousands of people will suffer?
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Comments
So we’ll see Biden waving a piece of paper and declaring “peace in our time”? We know how that worked out eighty-ish years ago.
.
What is astonishing is that most Dems believe that lifting sanctions, paying Iran Billions will deter their nuclear program.
Zero critical thinking skills
Zero grasp of history
Complete embracement of anti american interests
You don’t understand Joe, they know it will lead to Iran getting nukes quicker.
That is why they are helping them.
It will lead to 3 more pallets full of cash going to Tehran with 10% being held by Hunter for the Big Guy.
Perhaps their goal is to set up the eventual demise of Israel, slowly at first, then suddenly, and the harm to the USA is just a bonus.
And this right here should be reason enough to NEVER concede Mr Trump!
Hi, Michelle Malkin has come across than interesting point about the behavior of a Superpac called “Supermajority”. Supermajority was a female lead Pac funded by Mr Soros and other Leftist non-profits that was “Text Banking”.
Whilst a bit complex, it seems this outreach has identified people that have lived in various States previously and bad actors have obtained their ballots for nefarious reasons.
People have had votes cast without them knowing it, from States they previously lived in.
Michelle Twitter has more details and she is asking if people can double check if they have “voted” without their knowledge in previous States they have lived in.
If we are going to stop this fraud, we the people must spend time to expose this. And thus take away from the Democrats their most effective Vote Winner, Electoral Fraud.
Please read Michelle Malkin’s Twitter Feed about how we can pass around to all friends and family how to check if you have “Voted” without knowing about it in a previous State.
https://twitter.com/michellemalkin/status/1326053331140161537?s=20
Keep the fight up please, the World needs to see the USA correct this fraud, and then lock the responsible up for a very very long time under large rocks
regards.
Aussie Supporter.
Corruptocrats.
Liberalism never sees past the knee jerk.
I think it’s long past time we divide the country. There is no living together with the left.
“The Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which passed 98-1 in the Senate and 400-25 in the House, was an ex ante congressional act to give Congress the chance to review any agreement concluded on Iran’s nuclear program.”
Help me out here. Seems to me that Uncle Joey may want to rejoin the Iran nuke agreement, but, if I’m understanding the above quote correctly, Mitch McConnell, using the provisions of the INAR will likely tell Joey, “Not so friggin’ fast, pal.”
Of course, this is all assuming Uncle Joey is even inaugurated: a prospect which is still dubious at best given increasing evidence of electoral irregularities and flat-out vote fraud.
An “international agreement” that was never signed by Obama, was never ratified by Congress and is totally unenforceable in any manner. Yeah, right. That was such a great deal for the United States to enter into. What next, is Biden going to send a couple pallets of mixed currency to Iran as an apology?
The secret release of Iranians in American custody (being charged with crimes, if I recall correctly), combined with the concealment of this clandestine, dead-of-night cash shipment, combined with vile Obama’s outrageous dismissal of DEA’s pending operation to stifle Hezb’allah’s cocaine-peddling operations in the U.S., as a sop to the mullahs, all add weight to the utterly farcical nature of this capitulation, laughably termed a “deal.”
Maybe he should send Hunter over to make some deals for the Biden family.
By the way, where IS Hunter these days?
Excellent points, Lucifer. Nothing was signed per Iran’s demand. Obama circumvented the Senate because he knew it couldn’t pass. Absolutely no reason it should be binding on USfollowing Obama’s departure from office.
Never signed by Iran either. The Senate should declare that it’s a treaty requiring Senate ratification and hold a ratification hearing ASAP. It would be rejected. Would Biden be able to resubmit a rejected treaty?
Anybody who thinks the Iran deal was ever a good idea would have to be high.
The Iran “deal” was a farce from day one of negotiations, a classic vanity-driven, self-congratulatory, capitulation project, masquerading as grand statecraft. Iran was granted everything, without making any meaningful or enforceable concessions or changes in its belligerent, genocide-threatening behavior (against Israel) and global sponsoring of terrorism. Obama’s and his lackeys telegraphed rather transparently their desperation for a “deal,” thus eliminating any semblance of exerting leverage from the negotiating process.
And, notice how this Obama twit wants to re-join this meaningless farce, evan as she acknowledges that Iran broke the agreement!
So that begs the real question.
How much money in bribes are the Democrats receiving every year from terrorist state Iran?
Robert Gates said that Biden has “been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades.”
As Yogi Berra said, “Deja vu all over again.”
I hear pallets of cash delivered in the middle of night can make friends out of the worst of enemies. /s Kinda like boxes of ballots delivered by out of state vehicles in the middle of night can determine who’s President.
DEMS are the only ones who are going to get Nuked!
Knowing this election was an out and out fraud, why would any legitimate country want to work with the incoming administration?
GRAFT.
The amount of Bribe money the Fed. R. pumps out is like drinking from a fire hose.
“Incredibly, the JTA article doesn’t even mention Israel’s discovery of Iran’s nuclear archive or nuclear warehouse that gave much more insight into the extent of Iran’s nuclear program than the nuclear deal did.”
————
Indeed, to be a bit more descriptive — this “discovery” involved one of the most bold and daring intelligence operations in modern history — a highlight operation, even for the vaunted Mossad. And, of course, the water-carrying, jihad-rationalizing/enabling, Dhimmi-crat media totally downplayed the operation’s revelations, its significance, and, its laudable courageousness.
Iran love you long time, pay top dollar, make you very happy. Assahola say Joe number one guy, makey good job for family and friends.
Hunter Biden IS his father’s son, a less than sober chip off the block of ignorance.
I have no doubt Iran would happily suspend programs that are already near their end of life.