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Iran Got a Far Better Deal Than It Had Any Right to Expect

(National Review) Elliott Abrams - It has taken decades to build the structure of international sanctions against Iran, and now we are entirely abandoning it. To believe that these sanctions can or will "snap back" if Iran engages in some violation is foolish. Soon enough, the EU will have a huge economic investment in Iran and its companies and trade unions will strongly resist any sanctions that could hurt profits or employment. The idea of restoring the sanctions regime is a fantasy. The administration has most recently acted as Iran's lawyer, defending its violations of the previous agreement and attacking the press for suggesting that violations had occurred. The agreement even says that the federal government will fight any move by any state to impose or maintain state sanctions on Iran - for example, for human-rights violations, support of terror, aggression in the region, or any other reason. Iran has been arguing for years that it has the right to enrich uranium. The U.S. has always said "no." Now we allow Iran 6,000 centrifuges. Decades of American nonproliferation policy are dead. At five years, Iran begins rearming without any limits; at eight years, it begins modernizing and enlarging its ballistic missiles; after ten years, the nuclear limits start falling away. That is, Iran can then develop warheads and it will have the missiles on which to put them. The agreement says the deal "will mark a fundamental shift" in how we approach Iran and its nuclear program. The fundamental shift in behavior comes from the U.S., not Iran. The Islamic Republic remains an implacable enemy, holding hostages, supporting terror, organizing "Death to America" marches, even as its negotiators sat smiling across the table at U.S. negotiators. The writer, a senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, served as deputy assistant to the president and deputy national security advisor.
2015-07-16 00:00:00
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