obama iran

Jonathan Chait of New York magazine attempts to defend President Barack Obama from charges that he is using antisemitism to sell the Iran deal.

A convicted felon who went to federal prison in 2006-7 is leading a White-House backed effort to lobby Congress to pass whatever nuclear deal emerges from ongoing talks with Iran in Vienna. Robert Creamer, who served time for fraud and tax charges, and who is married to Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), is coordinating pro-Iran efforts through the liberal Ploughshares group, which held a conference call with President Barack Obama’s aides earlier this week, as reported by Adam Kredo of the Washington Free Beacon.

Several former advisers to President Barack Obama have rejected the likely terms of a nuclear deal with Iran, adding their names to an open letter that declares: “The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability.”

A new United Nations report suggests that the Obama administration and other western governments may be covering up Iran’s violations of international sanctions of ahead of the upcoming June 30 deadline for a final nuclear deal to be agreed.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his cabinet on Friday, who unanimously opposed the framework Iran deal reached Thursday in Lausanne, Switzerland, and said that any final deal must include Iran’s recognition of Israel.

In the wake of the Iran “framework” agreement Thursday, President Barack Obama celebrated–but the Iranian regime pushed for more concessions, disputing the White House’s “fact sheet” on the deal and insisting the parties had agreed to end sanctions immediately. Iran’s reaction was a clear sign that between now and the end of June, an already-bad deal is going to get worse as the Iranians see just how much Obama wants an agreement, and use that to make new demands.

Left-wing Israeli writer Ari Shavit, an ardent advocate of Israeli concessions to the Palestinians, has blasted President Barack Obama’s “framework” deal with Iran, saying that Obama is making the same mistakes for peace that George W. Bush made for war. Just as Bush launched an invasion of Iraq with no clear idea of the strategic consequences, Shavit says, Obama does not realize the deadly results of a bad deal with Iran, including a nuclear Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized President Barack Obama directly on Thursday evening, telling him that the new framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program “threatens the survival of the State of Israel.” The two leaders spoke by telephone to discuss the preliminary deal that negotiators from the P5+1 nations reached with Iran at talks in Lausanne, Switzerland that extended past the original Tuesday deadline.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the emerging Iran deal on Wednesday, calling it “unconscionable” that world powers were about to sign an agreement with the “murderous” regime even as it continued to vow to destroy Israel.

I’m fasting Monday and praying for Benjamin Netanyahu’s success in his speech to Congress on Tuesday. I don’t care for the pettiness of his American Jewish critics, who typify the establishment that remained silent during the Holocaust; nor the hysterics of his Israeli opponents, who prove by their behavior they are unfit to lead. I am hoping sense will prevail. I trust God and not the mainstream media, here and abroad, who have declared Netanyahu’s speech a disaster in advance.

There are at least five ways in which Iran has explicitly violated the interim agreement–one hat has been extended twice but has failed to produce anything but more time for Iran to advance to a nuclear weapon.

Obama claimed: “What was remarkable was that when I came into office, the world was divided around this issue. Iran was united. Through some very strong diplomatic work, we united the world and isolated Iran.” Obama also claimed: “The agreement has held and negotiations have been serious. We have not lost ground. Iran has not accelerated its program during the time these negotiations have taken place.” All of those claims, however, are false–and dangerously so.