By ALEX ALEXIEV
The Iran agreement, long touted by the Obama Administration as its crowning foreign-political achievement, is finally here and it is a lot worse than expected. To mention just one crucial aspect of it, until very recently senior Obama officials such as Ben Rhodes and Ernest Moniz assured us that the agreement would guarantee “anytime, anywhere” inspections by the West. It turns out not to be the case at all. Inspections are subject to additional negotiations that would last at least 24 days, or enough time for the Iranians to remove whatever they do not want us to see. In the meantime, Iran will immediately pocket $150 billion currently in frozen accounts and continue and likely accelerate its sponsorship of terrorism and support for its unsavory clients across the Middle East. Indeed, the Times of Israel reports that Iranian money for Hamas has already started flowing again and Teheran has jacked up its defense budget by a whooping 32.5% in anticipation of the windfall. One of its key programs in that budget is intercontinental ballistic missile development, which makes no sense except as delivery vehicles of nuclear warheads. In short, this toxic agreement will guarantee that Iran will become a nuclear state and achieve exactly the opposite of its stated objective. What that implies is an inevitable nuclear arms race in the Middle East and the specter of nuclear conflagration. At the very least, it promises an Israeli military effort to prevent such an outcome, which will inevitably trigger another Middle East war. It is worth mentioning in this respect, that both the ruling coalition and the opposition in Israel are united in their categorical rejection of this Obama ‘achievement’ and are determined to torpedo it.
So what’s next? In Washington, the Republican party and many Democrats in Congress are similarly united against the agreement and will make an effort to scuttle it in Congress. Obama’s only hope is to mobilize the hard left third of Congress and overcome an override of his promised veto of any such effort. He may be successful at that, but at the cost of proving to America and the world at large once again that his interests run counter to those of the American people.