The Obama Administration’s scribes at McClatchy Washington Bureau and here at the Argus-Dispatch (AD) assure us that on this one year anniversary: “Iran obeying nuclear deal…”
In today’s paper edition*, front page at bottom, we are told:
Opponents of the landmark deal — reached between Tehran and the U.S. , China, France, Germany, Russia and the U.K — asserted that Iran was sure to cheat given its past illicit nuclear activity. But IAEA monitors have found the country so far has complied, including ship in the bulk of its enriched uranium to Russia.
Kelsey Davenport, director for nonproliferation policy at the Arms Control Association, which supported the deal, said that given the technical complexity of what was required, it is a major accomplishment that Iran has stuck to obligations.
“The most significant element of the Iran deal to date, in my opinion, is how smoothly the agreement has been implemented,” Davenport said. “Since implementation day in January, Iran has adhered to all of the restriction under the agreement, sanctions have been lifted, and while Iran isn’t seeing economic windfall its originally anticipated, business are demonstrating interest in going back into Iran.”
Not so says a German intelligence agency as reported by Bret Stephens in his column at the Wall Street Journal: Truth Catches the Iran Deal (concluding excerpt)
So let’s recap. Mr. Obama says Iran is honoring the nuclear deal, but German intelligence tells us Tehran is violating it more aggressively than ever. He promised “snapback” sanctions in the event of such violations, but the U.S. is operating as Iran’s trade-promotion agent. He promised “unprecedented” inspections, but we’re not permitted to inspect sites where uranium was found. He promised an eight-year ban on Iran’s testing of ballistic missiles, but Tehran violated that ban immediately and repeatedly with only mild pushback from the West. He promised that the nuclear deal was not about “normalizing” relations with a rogue regime. But he wants it in the WTO.
Is Mr. Obama rationalizing a failed agreement or did he mean to mislead the American public? Either way, truth is catching up with the Iran deal.
Stephens has more to say about the situation and his article is recommended. In addition, PJ Media’s Bridget Johnson, in a report that also raises the German intelligence agency’s findings, further challenges Obama’s assertion that . . .
Iran Deal Made World ‘Safer’ One Year Later, Obama Declares (excerpt)
Within that year, Iran has conducted ballistic missile tests in violation of a UN Security Council resolution that the administration says are outside the scope of the nuclear agreement but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said are “not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the agreement in a confidential report cited by Bloomberg.
Iran has also captured U.S. sailors and humiliated them on-camera before releasing them, indicted an American businessman and a U.S. permanent resident who had done work for the U.S. government, and shipped arms to Yemen. Iran has warned that if the U.S. gives them any grief about their activities, they’ll consider the nuclear deal null and void
Obama was too desperate, too manipulative to make the Iran “deal.” We don’t trust him or Iran on the matter. McClatchy’s and AD’s news editors dutifully report Obama’s PR when challenging reports are readily available.
R Mall with DLH
*(screen grab shown, and link to that, strangely, link direct to story is not available on their site)
