Ayatollah: ‘Their Goal Is Opposite to Ours’

This weekend, as the Obama administration continued to stress the importance of reaching a nuclear deal with Iran, Iran’s Supreme Leader continued to tweet—in English, no less—that Iran would never abide by a deal to the benefit of the United States.

Ayatollah Khamenei pledged, “#US should know that ppl of #Iran wouldn’t submit to bullying &negotiators follow the nation in disallowing anyone to bully them.” He added, “Talks with #US are only on the nuclear issue & nothing else. We don’t talk over regional issues as their goal is opposite to ours. #ISIS.”

In other words, Iran will keep expanding its regional power no matter the outcome of talks. This is exactly what Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu said two weeks ago before Congress, when he explained that the nuclear deal reached by the Obama administration would enrich and arm an aggressive Iranian regime.

This, of course, was not the message being delivered simultaneously by White House chief of staff Denis McDonough to an astroturfed, George Soros-funded anti-Israel front group called J Street. McDonough lied, “The only deal we’ll accept is one that assures us that Iran’s nuclear program is entirely peaceful. And, if we detect any failure to comply on Iran’s part, the extended breakout window would give us plenty of time to respond. In other words, we’d make it harder for Iran to reach breakout and rush for a nuclear bomb.”

Actually, McDonough’s own speech explains that daily inspections regimes thus far do not extend to the Arak plutonium reactor; reports state that Iran will be left with 6,000 centrifuges, ensuring a breakout period of no more than one year. That is certainly not enough time to reconstruct a powerful sanctions regime or stop Iran with anything other than military action—which, of course, will never happen under any president remotely on the same page as President Obama.

The ayatollahs know that, and they celebrate. Saturday, Khamenei tweeted, “#Iran seeks peace& empowerment of nations.US seeks regional instability& dismantlement of Islamic awakening by arming terrorist groups. #ISIS.” He also tweeted: “We reject US fraudulent offer of reaching a deal w #Iran first then lifting sanctions. Lifting sanctions is a part of deal not its outcome.” This means that Iran will insist on lifting of sanctions as a prerequisite to a deal, not after verifiable dismantling of its arsenal—and the United States agrees, given that most of Iran’s arsenal will remain intact.

President Obama says that he will not take Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his word when Netanyahu says that he would implement a two-state solution given a willing peace partner. But he’s perfectly willing to accept the word of an Iranian regime that is admitting openly, in English, on Twitter, that it lies every day in negotiations.

Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org.Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.