The day after Americans discovered their president made a secret deal with Iran to restart their nuclear program in just 10 years, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif declared that restoring the theocracy’s uranium enrichment program was a “matter of pride.”
The American people and their representatives were largely kept in the dark about this little “side deal” by the Obama administration, but Iranian officials were fully informed and delighted by what they heard. Zarif said the side deal was designed by Iranian “negotiators and industry experts,” as quoted by the Associated Press.
The AP describes the confidential “add-on agreement” to the nuclear deal as the outline of a plan for Iran to expand uranium enrichment in 2027, installing thousands of advanced centrifuges that will be five times more efficient than the models it was using before Obama’s nuclear deal.
“It’s the only text linked to last year’s deal between Iran and six world powers – the United States, Britain, France, Russia, China plus Germany – that has not been made public, although U.S. officials say members of Congress who expressed interest were briefed on its substance,” the AP writes.
“God willing, when the complete text of the document is published, it will be clear where we will stand in 15 years,” Zarif chirped happily, promising that the papers would be made public soon. The AP has seen the documents and confirmed their authenticity.
Zarif also swatted aside complaints from U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that Iran’s ballistic missile tests are “not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the nuclear deal and “have the potential to increase tensions in the region.”
Zarif claimed the U.N. report was “based on incomplete information,” and the Obama administration essentially backed him up, declaring that the U.S. government “disagrees strongly with elements of this report.” Russia also stepped in to accuse the U.N. Secretary-General of exceeding his “mandate” by criticizing Iranian missile launches.
Chalk up another win for Iran and Russia over Team Obama, which used to express concerns about Iranian missile launches as violating at least the spirit of the nuclear deal. Tehran and Moscow insisted all along that the nuclear deal merely suggested Iran cut back on missile development.
That interpretation now appears to have been ratified by an outgoing president who will not risk anything that might provoke Iran into reneging on his “signature achievement” in foreign policy, even as we learn that “achievement” boils down to giving Iran billions of dollars and priceless international credibility in exchange for a promise to hold off on nuclear weapons until Obama and his immediate successor are safely out of office.
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