Looking at the handwriting on the walls, 78-year-old President Joe Biden’s chief Iranian Nuke Deal negotiator 58-year-old Rob Malley expressed doubts under Iran’s new President ultra-conservative 60-year-old Ibrahim Raisi that Iran will agree to terms for a new Nuke Deal.. Iran’s 82-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has voiced his opposition to the July 15, 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action AKA “The Iranian Nuke Deal,” designed to slow Iran’s feverish pursuit of an A-bomb. While Iran has consistently denied it has it sights on a nuclear bomb, most U.S. and European Uniton [EU] intel agencies believe other wises. When the deal was inked by former President Barack Obama, he handed Iran $16 billion in cash and $150 billion in sanctions relief. Once the Ayatollah got the cash, he started a proxy war with Saudi Arabia, using Yemen’s Houthi rebels.
Watching Iran’s Cruise missiles and predator drones hit Riyadh’s International Airport and Aramco oil refineries, Trump had no choice but to cancel the Nuke Deal, knowing that Iran had to be contained with draconic sanctions. Democrats and the Biden’s campaign used Trump’s cancellation of the Nuke Deal politically, knowing full-well the U.S. could not return to the deal while Iran continues its proxy war against Saudi Arabia and Israel. “There is a real risk here that they come back with unrealistic demands about what they can achieve in these talks,” Malley said, realizing that Raisi’s inauguration Aug. 5 was a game-changer. Khamenei picked Raisi to thumb his nose at the United States. Iran’s 61-year-old, U.S.-educated Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif, who negotiated the Nuke Deal with 77-year-old former Secretary of State John Kerry, has been sidelined.
Under a new Raisi regime, Khamenei shows that he’ll be less flexible accommodating U.S. demands to reinstate the Nuke Deal without first suspending all sanctions, especially on Iran’s global oil sales. Since Trump cancelled the Nuke Deal May 8, 2018, Iran has gone hog-wild enriching uranium with IR-4 and IR-6 advanced centrifuges to 60%, only a step away from weapons grade fuel. No one really knows what Iran has been doing because Vienna-based U.N. inspectors have never had access to Iran’s secret enrichment sites under the JCPOA. In their lust for a deal, Obama and Kerry permitted Iran to continue its nuclear program without any real verification. Trump realized that whether he cancelled the Nuke Deal or not, there was no verification of Iran’s secret enrichment activity. Iran is so far out-of-compliance with the JCPOA, that it’s impossible to verify.
Malley has grown pessimistic that Iran’s new regime will compromise with the U.S. on verification, a key element to any new Nuke Deal. “At this point we will have to reassess the way forward; we hope it doesn’t come to that,” Malley said, meaning that he’s not sure Iran will allow any real verification. “Negotiations should aim to limit ballistic missiles, but it should be recognized that eliminating this pillar in its entirety is impossible,” said David Albright and Sarah Burkhard in their new book, “Iran’s Perilous Pursuit of Nuclear Weapons.” Albright and Burkhard know that the Ayatollah will never agree to any restriction on Iran’s ballistic missiles, but, more importantly, verifying Iran’s secret uranium enrichment program. Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency [IAEA] inspectors have never had access to Iran’s secret nuclear enrichment sites, ramping up production to weapons-grade fuel.
Albright and Burkard admitted that it’s going to be difficult to get the Ayatollah to stop its ballistic missile program. “The elimination of the [nuclear] delivery system pillar is more difficult to thwart because Iran has so many options for delivering nuclear weapons, ranging from ballistic missiles to Cruise missiles to ships,” said Albright and Burkard. Biden has already said that Iran will not get a nuclear weapon on his watch. Entering into another sham agreement giving Iran sanctions relief without verification with IAEA inspectors in Iran’s secret enrichment sites would be futile. Malley knows that with Raisi taking over for Rouhani Aug. 5, there’s far less chance Iran will submit to IAEA inspections. Picking Raisi, Khamenei has chose his successor while her nears retirement due to health problems. Khamenei wants no part of any “reformists” like Rouhani to lead Iran’s Mullah government. Khamenei is only concerned about preserving totalitarian Mullah rule.
Radical elements inside Biden’s admininstration don’t want to give Trump any credit for wise decision-making when in comes to Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, and, yes, the management of the deadly novel coronavirus. Controlling elements in Biden’s White House want to reinstate the Iranian Nuke Deal to stick it to Trump, even if it endangers U.S. national security and that of Israel. Biden knows that many aspects of Trump’s foreign and domestic policy were right on the money, including his management of the U.S. economy. Democrats and the media demonized Trump for purely political reasons, blaming Trump for the Covid-19 crisis and economic recession. Were it not for Trump pushing hard for vaccines, untold numbers of U.S. citizens would be dead beyond today’s 625,000. Only know are scientists admitting that Trump was right about the origin of the deadly novel coronavirus..