According to a Reuters news story, the US and Iran had been working like little beavers on a plan to release five American prisoners who’ve been held in Iran, some for years. Then, lo and behold!, the tough-minded UN and US discovered that Iran had violated terms of the nuclear agreement, which prohibited the testing of ICBM’s.
Well sir, that did it. Although the lifting of current INTERNATIONAL sanctions on Iran, due to happen only if they had complied with terms of the agreement, were going to go forward anyway, the steely-eyed American Primo Negotiator, John Kerry, was all prepared to slap new UNILATERAL (don’t you just love when these guys talk tough) US sanctions on Iran because of the missile testing violation. Never mind that they are limited and targeted sanctions.
But wait! Iran told the Americans that if they did not “delay” those new sanctions, the tediously negotiated prisoner exchange deal was off.
So, Barack Obama and John Kerry, great humanitarians both, were not willing to allow those US prisoners to languish in an Iranian prison any longer. Thus, they acceded to Iran’s wishes and “delayed” imposition of the new sanctions. America got its 5 prisoners back…and Iran got 8 of theirs.
But not to worry! now that those prisoners have been freed, reuters reports that those unilateral sanctions will be “imposed quickly.”
Question: Is there ANYBODY on this or nearby planets who believes that THOSE UNILATERAL SANCTIONS will be imposed “QUICKLY”…or EVER?
From the Reuters story:
VIENNA/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The day before the Obama administration was due to slap new sanctions on Iran late last month, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif warned U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry the move could derail a prisoner deal the two sides had been negotiating in secret for months.
Kerry and other top aides to President Barack Obama, who was vacationing in Hawaii, convened a series of conference calls and concluded they could not risk losing the chance to free Americans held by Tehran.
At the last minute, the Obama administration officials decided to delay a package of limited and targeted sanctions intended to penalize Iran for recent test-firings of a ballistic missile capable of delivering a nuclear warhead.
DLH
