The geo-political policy wonks and foreign policy experts forgot the basics when entering a Middle East Souk.
If you want to bring home a Persian carpet, there are a few simple rules. First, never, ever, wave a wad of cash. Second, treat the shop owner's first three offers as opening gambits. Third, never ask the jeweler in the next stall to serve as your go-between "to get the best deal." Fourth, never, ever confirm you actually want the carpet.
But what has transpired with the sophisticates running the Iran nuclear negotiations isn't just the product of rookie mistakes by a naïve tourist.
When finalized, Nuke Deal II will guarantee that the Iran's ultimate boss, Ayatollah Khamenei, can continue to crush human rights at home, and vastly increase the training and deadly arsenals of Iran's terrorist lackeys in Lebanon, Gaza, and Yemen. Tehran will continue to wield nuclear blackmail against the Gulf States, curse Israel's existence with threats of thousands of missiles raining down on military targets and civilian populations, and it will expand its spheres of influence throughout the Americas.
What will the United States get in return?
More hit squads to target Iranian dissidents, former U.S. diplomats and officials for assassinations, and anyone else who dares oppose the designs of the "supreme" leader in Tehran.
Before closing the deal, listen to the Iranian people themselves.
Last week, protests erupted in the streets of Iran when word came that U.S. and European negotiators were close to sealing a renewed nuclear deal with Tehran. The protests weren't organized by Iran's hardliners angered by Tehran's reported compromise with the West, but by Iran's long-suffering people who know that when the Mullahcracy is plied with billions, almost none of it will go to help a desiccated economy. It will instead be diverted to fund Khamenei's apocalyptic vision. For the Iranian people, it will mean more repression, more kidnappings, more torture of Baha'is, and more killings of gays. Those brave Iranians who dare take to the streets do so out of sheer desperation that somehow someone in power in Washington, London, Paris, or Berlin, will heed their primal scream.
As for the hardliners? They're not taking to the streets just yet. Why should they? They are salivating over the prospect of hundreds of billions dollars so that they can do what they do best: destabilize enemies and assassinate critics, both domestic and foreign. Europeans don't talk much about it, but our own State Department has released a list of 360 Iranian dissidents killed in Europe by Iranian operatives. When it comes to Iran, cowardice is Europe's middle name, and the Iranian regime is convinced that the U.S. will do nothing when the hit list is expanded across America.
At this point, would it make any real difference if President Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken stopped short of signing on the dotted line?
Yes, it could stop the momentum toward a devastating war between Iran and Israel, which seems more inevitable by the day.
Jews learned the hard way in the 20th century that when a tyrant says he is going to kill every one of you—believe him.
Such a war would wreak devastation throughout the Gulf and threaten Egypt and Turkey as well. The drums of war are already beating, the preparations are already underway.
Right now, no one in Jerusalem, Saudi Arabia, UAE, or Bahrain, is sure that the U.S. will have their back.
On the contrary, the U.S. and European powers are greenlighting Tehran's agenda, and insanely, they are relying on the same Russia that's invading Ukraine to be the primary intermediary with the Iranians. It is mindboggling.
Walking away now—at 11:59pm—might just give the Iranian regime pause, demonstrating that the Biden administration isn't prepared to absorb a bigger debacle and self-inflicted disaster than what happened in Afghanistan one year ago.
The alternative is grave. A U.S.-led epic surrender to the Iran will guarantee the worst-case scenario for Israel and the Arab nations of the Middle East. There will be more carnage there, but also on the streets of Europe and the United States.
Please President Biden, we beseech you, to stop the madness. It's not too late to stop the Ayatollah's war on peace before it literally goes nuclear.
How?
The U.S. should leave the bazaar in Vienna, dispense with the Russian and Chinese interlocutors and let the world know we stand with our allies and friends. It's time to deliver ultimatums backed by snap-back sanctions. The Iranians can start with removing their hit teams from our streets. Otherwise, the Vienna charade will continue ad infinitum until Iran has extorted every single cent possible from the naïve West leveraging every second to rapidly prepare its nuclear and military capabilities for the windfall coming.
If the Biden administration does anything less than crush Tehran's maleficence, then congressional leaders must send a bipartisan message that any Iran deal will be treated like a treaty, fulfilling the Constitutional requirement that the Senate must give its advice and consent—ratified by a supermajority—before going into effect.
Congress knows well that a useless piece of paper, accompanied by pallets of taxpayer cash, will not motivate Iran to roll back their terrorist infrastructure around the world. In fact, it is an invitation.
The only language this regime understands is strength.
Rabbi Abraham Cooper is the associate dean and director of the Global Social Action Agenda at the Simon Wiesenthal Center.
Rev. Johnnie Moore is president of the Congress of Christian Leaders.
The views expressed in this article are the authors' own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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