STOP IRAN NOW
All it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to do nothing
THE IRAN DEAL - JCPOA
Background
Iran has a long history of deception and intransigence regarding its nuclear ambitions and the development of its nuclear program.
Prior to the JCPOA there had been an international concensus that Iran should be prohibited from enriching uranium which could be used to make nuclear weapons. There were also stronger UN resolutions in place which prohibited Iran from developing and testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads.
These were based on Iran's history of deception and intransigence regarding its nuclear program coupled with its murderous regional aggression and terrorism around the globe.
The sanctions that been imposed on the regime in Tehran gave the United States and Europe substantial leverage and the Obama Administration went into the negotiations with the stated objective of requiring Iran to eliminate or substantially dismantle its nuclear infrastructure and ended up enabling a full scale industrial nuclear program.
The P5+1 erroneously concluded that they reached the JCPOA "to ensure that Iran's program will be exclusively peaceful" and that the IAEA has verified that "Iran has implemented its key nuclear-related measures described in the JCPOA," and the Secretary of State has confirmed the IAEA's verification.
This false and misleading statement must be corrected. The American people and the world must learn the truth before it is too late.
Set forth below are 14 critical facts that every American -- and every concerned citizen around the world - must know and share.
Spreading the truth is critical in our struggle to save innocent lives and defend freedom. It is also crucial to our security and to the preservation of the values which must define us, bind us and sustain us..
THE FOURTEEN FACTS
1. WE ARE BEING DECEIVED - WE WERE BAMBOOZLED
IN A NOW INFAMOUS NEW YORK TIMES EXPOSE BEN RHODES ADMITTED THAT THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION AND A MOSTLY COMPLIANT MAINSTREAM MEDIA DECEIVED THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY PEDDLING A FALSE NARRATIVE TO TRY TO "SELL" THE DEAL.
The vast difference between what was said and what was done both in the midst of negotiations and in the aftermath of the JCPOA is well documented. Please see What Obama Administration officials said about Iran and What We Know Now -- and the follow up article.
For additional information see the section here in entitled Choose Truth.
2. THE JCPOA NOT A "DEAL" AT ALL - BUT A DANGEROUS CAPITULATION WHICH ELIMINATED MANY SANCTIONS; ENRICH THE REGIME TO THE TUNE OF $150 BILLION; AND ENABLED CERTAIN GOVERNMENTS AND BUSINESSES TO PROSPER AT THE EXPENSE OF OUR SECURITY AND OUR VALUES
(a) THE JCPOA IS NOT A SIGNED DOCUMENT - IN THE WORDS OF THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION A MERE 'POLITICAL COMMITMENT'
We must ask ourselves why that Administration provided sanctions relief and surrendered leverage for a nonbinding 'commitment' by a regime that has deceived the international community time and time again with a President who gloated about it just as the Foreign Minister was laying a wreath at the grave of ?
(b) JOHN KERRY ADMITTED THAT PART OF THE MONEY IRAN RECEIVED WOULD BE USED TO FUND TERRORISM - YET DID NOT INSIST ON RESTRICTING THE USE OF FUNDS
THE MONEY WAS IN FACT USED TO FINANCE HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH AND OTHER IRAN-BACKED TERRORISM.
(c) THEN PRESIDENT OBAMA PROMISED CONGRESS THAT IF THEY DID NOT BLOCK THE IRAN DEAL HE WOULD BLOCK IRAN'S ACCESS TO THE US FINANCIAL SYSTEM - HE THEN DID EVERYTHING HE COULD TO FACILITATE THAT ACCESS
3. THE DEPTHS TO WHICH THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION WENT TO APPEASE IRAN AND ENTER INTO THE NONBINDING JCPOA IS SPINE CHILLING
He freed prisoners who, according to his own Justice Department, posed threats to our national security and helped advance Iran's illicit nuclear program, including the 'biggest fish', Seyed Abolfazl Shahab Jamili, who had been charged with being part of a conspiracy that from 2005 to 2012 procured thousands of parts with nuclear applications for Iran via China. That included hundreds of U.S.-made sensors for the uranium enrichment centrifuges in Iran whose progress had prompted the nuclear deal talks in the first place.
He derailed an ambitious law enforcement campaign targeting a $1 billion drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering operation of the Iranian-backed terrorist group Hezbollah, even as it was funneling cocaine into the United States, according to a POLITICO investigation. The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008 after the Drug Enforcement Administration amassed evidence that Hezbollah had transformed itself from a Middle East-focused military and political organization into an international crime syndicate that some investigators believed was collecting $1 billion a year from drug and weapons trafficking, money laundering and other criminal activities.
4. AS SYRIAN CIVILIANS WERE BEING BARREL BOMBED AND GASSED - THE IRANIAN PEOPLE WERE BEING BRUTALIZED - THE IRGC AND ITS PROXY MILITIAS WERE WREAKING HAVOC THROUGHOUT THE MIDDLE EAST - AND IRAN AND ITS TERROR PROXIES WERE PLOTTING TERRORISM IN THE UNITED STATES, EUROPE AND AROUND THE WORLD - THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION REFUSED TO ADDRESS THESE ISSUES IN THE JCPOA (OR TO PLACE CONDITIONS ON THE $150 BILLION) CLAIMING THAT THE JCPOA WAS MEANT TO DEAL "EXCLUSIVELY WITH THE NUCLEAR ISSUE"
HOWEVER, WHILE IGNORING ALL OF THE AFOREMENTIONED ISSUES THER JCPOA ENDED UP DEALING WITH SEVERAL NON-NUCLEAR ISSUES IN A MANNER THAT DEMONSTRATED A COMPLETE CAPITULATION TO IRAN
(a) Ballistic Missiles: Contrary to promises made, the agreement did not include clear stringent prohibitions on ballistic missiles which are a critical component of a nuclear weaponization program. Instead - the appeasing parties agreed on ambiguous language which weakened the relevant and long agreed upon UN sanctions -- which are and subjecting the relevant restrictions to a sunset clause which is soon to expire.
(b) Conventional Weapons: The deal which purported to pertain only to nuclear matters also eliminated the UN nan on Iran's sale and purchase of conventional weapons under a sunset clause. The Trump Administration fought this tooth and nails -- but the appeasing governments of Europe continued to appease (even after Iran had financed the genocide in Syria and plotted terror attacks in their countries).
(d) Eliminated Non-Nuclear Sanctions on Dangerous persons and Criminal Entities: The including OBAMA ADMINISTRATION CLAIMED THAT THE DEAL WOULD DEAL ONLY WITH IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM -- BUT ENDED UP ELIMIATING PROHIBITIONS ON IRAN'S SALE AND PURCHASE OF CONVENTIONAL WEAPONRY AND ELIMINATING OTHER NON-NUCLEAR SANCTIONS
4. THE IRAN DEAL PAVES IRAN'S PATH TO NUCLEAR WEAPONS
Under the JCPOA Iran has two paths to a nuclear bomb -by cheating or by keeping the deal.
If Iran keeps the deal it will have a legitimate pathway to produce many nuclear bombs between 2025 and 2030. This is because (i) the United Nations resolutions on ballistic missiles were weakened under the JCPOA and Iran's frequent testing of missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads was ignored and (ii) the JCPOA's restrictions on both enrichment and ballistic missiles soon disappear pursuant to the JCPOA's sunset provisions.
5. IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAM IS NOT PEACEFUL
The JCPOA is premised on the ridiculous notion that Iran wants to enrich fossil fuel and develop and maintain an elaborate nuclear infrastructure in connection with a peaceful civilian nuclear program. That is a clear deception and insult to our intelligence for so many reasons. Chief among them:
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Iran refused to report its nuclear history or PMD to the United Nation's nuclear watchdog the International Atomic Energy Agency ("IAEA"). Those who have nothing to hide hide nothing.
6. IRAN NEVER REPORTED ITS NUCLEAR HISTORY TO THE IAEA - THIS WAS A CRITICAL PREREQUISITE NECESSARY FOR EFFECTIVE VERIFICATION. Although the former Head of the IAEA Yukiya Amano expressed concern that most of his questions went unanswered regarding the past military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program - the United Nation's eventually swept those critical concerns under the rug.
7. IRAN WAS ALLOWED TO DEVELOP ADVANCED CENTRIFUGES PURSUANT TO A SECRET SIDE DEAL . THIS REDUCES IRAN'S BREAKOUT TIME AND FACILITATES CHEATING The Associated Press discovered a secret side deal that allows Iran to upgrade and modernize its centrifuges and increase its enriching capacity all before the deal officially expires in 15 years. The projection is that this will reduce Iran’s time to build a bomb to 6 months instead of the year time frame that Obama promised. Moreover, more advanced centrifuges are smaller and more efficient making it much easier for Iran to cheat by moving them to clandestine locations.
8. THE JCPOA WEAKENS AND THEN LIFTS THE BAN ON IRAN'S BALLISTIC MISSILES -- ENABLING THE BRUTAL REGIME TO DEVELOP LONGER RANGE AND MORE PRECISE MISSILES WHICH THREATEN ISRAEL, THE ENTIRE MIDDLE EAST, EUROPE AND SOON THE US MAINLAND.
9. THERE ARE NO "ANYTIME, ANYWHERE" INSPECTIONS; INSPECTION PROTOCALS HAVE BEEN MADE PURSUANT TO "SECRET AGREEMENTS TO WHICH THE US CONGRESS AND THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ARE NOT PRIVY; IRAN HAS NOT BEEN COOPERATIVE WITH THE IAEA INSPECTORS; . Iran gets to self-inspect the Parchin military base with no inspectors present. Iran has harassed and dismissed inspectors it finds displeasing.
10 . THE PROMISED SNAP-BACK SANCTIONS DON'T REALLY EXIST . President Obama gave Europe, China, and Russia a written promise that the US will guarantee that those of their companies that make deals with Iran would not have to stop working with Iran if Iran was caught violating the P5+1 dealing, which would mandate re-imposing sanctions. The snapback option was never used when Iran violated the JCPOA and the TrumpAdministration's justified calls for snapback were rebuffed.
11. THE DEAL GIVES TEHRAN THE LEVERAGE TO BLACKMAIL THE WEST BECAUSE THE IRANIANS CAN THREATENTO WALK AWAY FROM THE JCPOA WITH A 35 DAY NOTICE. THEY HAVE PREVIOUSLY THREATENED TO "WALK AWAY AND BUILD A BOMB" IN THE PAST. Under Paragraph 36, Iran can claim that any country agreeing to the JCPOA is “not meeting its commitments” under the agreement. That triggers a 35-day set of meetings. Once that clock runs, Iran can claim the issue “has not been resolved to [its] satisfaction” and that it “deems” that the issue “constitutes significant non-performance.” Iran can then “cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part.”
10. IRAN GETS TO "SELF-INSPECT" AT THE PARCHIN MILITARY SITE. Before the agreement, the IAEA sought access to Parchin, which has long been suspected of being the location where Iran was developing its nuclear weapon detonation systems. Iran even admitted to using Parchin to test exploding bridge wires, which are used as nuclear detonators, but they claimed the test explosions were not for weapons development.
(a) An Iranian statement in Sept. 2015 confirmed that the Iranians collected their own samples: “Iranian experts took samples from specific locations in Parchin facilities this week without IAEA inspectors being present.” Why is self-inspecting bad? A Catholic friend told me that the nuns always told him that self-inspections will make Iranians’ eyesight go blurry and make them grow hair on their palms,
(b) David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, explained at a panel that the Hudson Institute hosted that self-sampling, even under surveillance, is inadequate. Inspectors need to be on the ground to identify dusty nooks and corners where violators forgot to dust. The mutually agreed upon areas are by definition the ones that violators know have been sanitized. “What you have is, is the situation where there’ll be videotaping of the potential locations where sampling would take place. Then the IAEA would direct the Iranians to take the samples. And that’s not the normal way to do things.”
11.THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION HAD PROMISED THAT IAEA INSPECTORS WOULD INSPECT PARCHIN AND RESOLVE ALL PMD ISSUES PRIOR TO INKING ANY FINAL DEAL. But that didn’t happen. Instead, the administration allowed Iran to sign a secret side deal with the IAEA permitting the Iranians to self-inspect the facility rather than grant the IAEA inspectors robust access.
12. NO ACTIONS WERE TAKEN BY THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION DESPITE IRAN'S NUMEROUS VIOLATIONS OF THE JCPOA. Almost immediately Iran violated its commitments by (i) testing ballistic missiles capable of carrying nuclear warheads; (ii) violating the restrictions on heavy water (heavy water provides a path to turn common uranium into plutonium, one of the easily split or "fissile" materials that fuels nuclear bombs) and (iii) attempting to procure illicit materials relating to its nuclear program and missiles.
A. HEAVY WATER: Iran broke the terms of the heavy water provisions of the deal twice in 2016, but Obama let them “off the hook.”
B. BALLISTIC MISSILES: On October 10, 2015 - Iran tested fired a medium-range Emad rocket capable of delivering a nuclear warhead, a team of sanctions monitors said, leading to calls in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday for more sanctions on Tehran. This was 8 days prior to the October 18, 2015 marked Adoption Day of the JCPOA, the date on which the JCPOA came into effect and participants began taking steps necessary to implement their JCPOA commitments. The P5+ 1 proceeded with the adoption as planned despite this portentous warning. On October 16, 2015, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power said Iran’s October 10, 2015 ballistic missile test was “a clear violation” of UN sanctions given that the missile launched was “inherently capable of delivering a nuclear weapon.” A confidential report by a UN panel of experts subsequently confirmed that Iran had violated a UN Security Council resolution. On March 30, 2016, the U.S. and the EU allies said in a joint letter that the recent missile tests by Iran were “in defiance of” the UN Security Council resolution that endorsed the JCPOA.Commenting on Iran’s continued ballistic missile testing, Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs Thomas Shannon said, “from our point of view, U.N. Security Council Resolution 2231 prohibits Iran from launching ballistic missiles.” Shannon continued, “I believe that Iran violated the intent of 2231.”
Iran tested as many as 14 ballistic missiles capable of delivering nuclear warheads in 2015 and 2016 . Undeterred, They continued such tests throughout the duration of the Obama Administration.
C. PROCUREMENT OF ILLICIT MATERIALS: In 2016 German officials warned that Iran made numerous attempts to procure illicit materials in violation of the JCPOA - documented information that was ignored by the Obama Administration and the others in the P5+1. Iran's illicit procurement continued year after year .
In 2019 the IAEA found Iran had violated 14 other agreement obligations.
13. MUCH JCPOA WAS HIDDEN FROM THE AMERICAN PEOPLE - AND FROM THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS IN VIOLATION OF US LAW -
THE IRAN NUCLEAR REVIEW ACT OF 2015, a bill that was passed by the US Congress in May 2015, gave Congress the right to review any agreement reached in the P5+1 talks with Iran aiming to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.
The bill passed in the Senate by a 98–1 vote (only Tom Cotton voted against arguing that the JCPOA WAS A TREATY AN WAS BEING ENTERED INTO IN VIOLATION OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION) ), and then passed in the House by a vote of 400–25 on May 14. President Barack Obama threatened to veto the bill, but eventually a version arrived that had enough support to override any veto and Obama did not try vetoing it.
The Associated Press discovered a secret side deal that allows Iran to upgrade and modernize its centrifuges and increase its enriching capacity all before the deal officially expires in 15 years. The projection is that this will reduce Iran’s time to build a bomb to 6 months instead of the year time frame that Obama promised.
Yet another secret side deal that the Institute for Science and International Security reported (which was never given to Congress) reveals that Iran’s breakout time to a bomb is not the year claimed by the Obama administration but less than five months.
As part of the concessions that allowed Iran to exceed uranium limits, the joint commission agreed to exempt unknown quantities of 3.5 percent LEU contained in liquid, solid, and sludge wastes stored at Iranian nuclear facilities, according to the report. The agreement restricts Iran to stockpiling only 300 kg of 3.5 percent LEU [low-enriched uranium].
The commission approved a second exemption for an unknown quantity of near 20 percent LEU in ‘lab contaminant’ that was determined to be unrecoverable, the report said. The nuclear agreement requires Iran to fabricate all such LEU into research reactor fuel.
If the total amount of excess LEU Iran possesses is unknown, it is impossible to know how much weapons-grade uranium it could yield, experts said.
The Iran nuclear deal significantly reduces preexisting reporting requirements about Iran’s nuclear program. Former IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano, the head of the international inspection group International Atomic Energy Agency, reported that nugget. Iran threatened Mr. Amano with harm if he reveals anything about the side deals.
There are two secret side deals to the nuclear agreement with Iran that will not be shared with other nations, Congress, or the U.S. public. Those side deals may be the ones revealed above…or maybe not. And perhaps there are more.
In late 2016, the Daily Beast revealed there were private files outlining hidden agreements made as part of the Iran nuke that Obama never released because they might embarrass his administration. Earlier, Bloomberg View described other potentially embarrassing documents that the administration classified to save face, including an intelligence assessment written to excuse the U.S. collapse on Iran disclosing past nuclear work, which began by imagining a world in which Iran will fully cooperate with the deal for the next 20 years, and then went from there.
There are dozens of other Iran nuke deal-related documents that are not even classified secret but that the Obama administration nonetheless refused to release. There are broad suspicions those documents contain embarrassing concessions to Iran -- both additional U.S. obligations and exemptions for Iranian obligations. As a technical matter, it would be straightforward to release those documents. As a political matter, Barack Obama and John Kerry hid them to continue their lies to America.