Closing an improbable nuke deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry pulled off what many thought was impossible, getting Iran’s U.S.-bashing Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to go along. Working for the U.S. was the Ayatollah’s dirty little secret that his mullah Azeri [Azerbaijan origin] clan control much of Iran’s wealth, including Iran’s once lucrative energy sector. Making a deal to end crippling U.S and U.N. sanctions automatically increases the Ayatollah’s formidable wealth and that of his Azeri mullah clan. Whether or not the Ayatollah’s Azeris profit from the end of sanctions or not, the nuke deal makes the world a safer place, putting enforcement into the hands of the international community. Calling the deal an “historic mistake for the world,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu couldn’t contain himself in the wake of the historic nuclear deal with Iran.
Whether the deal really makes the world a safer place is anyone’s guess. What it does do is force Iran’s enrichment program into international accountability. When former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad declared Iran a “nuclear state” Feb. 10, 2010, he wasn’t only referring to Iran’s ability to make reactor fuel and medical isotopes. Netanyahu has never gotten beyond Ahmadinejad’s Oct. 30, 2005 speech threatening to “wipe Israel off the map.” When Ahmadinejad hosted a Holocaust deniers’ conference in Tehran Dec. 11, 2006, Netyanyahu went off the rails, accusing Iran of plotting to hit Tel Aviv with an A-bomb. Ten years later, the Israeli prime minister still insists that Iran’s mission is to destroy Israel. Netanyahu only hopes that conservatives on Capitol Hill, from whom he received a hero’s welcome when spoke to a joint session of Congress March 3, reject the P5+1 plan.
Critics of the July 12 P5+1 nuke deal with Iran contend that ending Iran’s economic sanctions enables Iran to make and spend more money on terrorism. Whether that’s true or not, critics won’t concede that the monitoring structure prevents Iran from enriching weapons grade uranium for at least 10 years. “Iran will receive hundreds of billions of dollars which it can fuel its terror machine and its expansion and aggression throughout the Middle East and across the globe,” insisted Netanyahu, saying nothing about what the nuke deal does to derail any military ambitions. Whatever Iran planned or didn’t plan with its nuke program, including building its first A-bomb, there’s no reason whatever to believe that the money-hungry Azeri mullahs would nuke Israel and destroy their stranglehold on Iran’s wealth. Netanyahu keeps repeating what Iran’s discredited former president said 10 years ago.
White House and P5+1 efforts to nail down a nuke deal with Iran came with vehement right wing and Israeli opposition. Given the 2016 U.S. presidential race in full swing, the July 12 nuke deal, achieved under long odds, promises to be the next political football on Capitol Hill. However criticized, no one on Capitol Hill can honestly say some deal is not better than no deal. Iran now operates under tight U.N. guidelines, watched like a hawk as never before. If Tehran breaches any part of the deal, especially the rigorous Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspections, the sanctions go right back on. Even liberal Israeli politicians like Zionist Union’s Tzipi Livni are critical of the deal. “The agreement is terrible not only because of what it includes but also what it does not,” said Livni, taking a shot a Netanyahu for not having more clout with the White House.
When you get beyond U.S. or Israeli politics, the agreement stands to bring Iran back into some kind of accountability. Without an agreement, the White House and Tel Aviv can rattle sabers all they want without getting one iota of international accountability. Using the Ayatollah’s hostile rhetoric as proof of Iran’s insincerity ignores the agreement’s basic enforcement mechanisms, preventing Iran from enriching uranium beyond 20%. “This nuclear deal makes the management of the Iran easier for future leaders. He has shown that he leads rationally and pragmatically and the deal also manages to change the face of the country,” said Amir Mohebbian, a political strategist close to Iran’s leadership. Contrary to Netanyahu’s assertions, Mohebbian points out the practical side to the Ayatollah’s leadership, namely, the dirty little secret that the mullah class stands to make billions.
Whatever misgivings exist with the P5+1 nuke deal with Iran, it accomplishes more international monitoring of Iran’s nuclear activities. Insisting Iran can’t be trusted because of their backing of global terrorism doesn’t mean that the July 12 nuke deal doesn’t accomplish its goal of slowing down Iran’s pursuit of an A-bomb. Whether or not the Ayatollah or his Revolutionary Guards call the U.S. “The Great Satan,” signing onto a nuke deal shows the Ayatollah’s practical side. Making billions off the deal is a good thing, showing, if nothing else, that mullah-clan-profits mean more than remaining isolated on the world stage. Whether admitted to or not, Iran’s Lebanon-based Hezbollah militia, while bitter enemies with Israel, has done more to fight the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] than any group outside the Kurds. Rejoining the international community only makes Iran more responsible.
