With Each Passing Week The Iranian Nuclear Agreement Seems To Get Worse

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks about the recent Iran nuclear deal during a news conference at the White House in Washington July 15, 2015 (Reuters / Yuri Gripas) / Reuters

National Post editorial: Iran deal seems to get worse every week

If the West needed further proof that the nuclear deal signed last month by the P5+1 countries and Iran is a bad one, they got plenty of it this week. First, in a speech at American University in Washington, U.S. President Barack Obama admitted the billions of dollars Iran will receive in sanctions relief could be used to support terrorism. “We have no illusions about the Iranian government or the significance of the Revolutionary Guard and the Quds Force … Iran supports terrorist organizations like Hezbollah. It supports proxy groups that threaten our interests and the interests of our allies, including proxy groups who killed our troops in Iraq.”

WNU Editor: Last week 29 scientists (some of them Nobel laureates) came out in support of President Obama's Iranian nuclear deal .... In An Open Letter To President Obama 29 U.S. Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal. Today .... a number of retired U.S. Generals and Admirals also came out in support of the deal .... In An Open Letter Three Dozen Retired U.S. Generals And Admirals Back The Iran Nuclear Deal. But as WNU reader and sometimes commentator Phill put it bluntly .... how can you support a deal when major parts of it are still secret? And that is the problem with this deal .... doubly so when the top U.S. diplomat also admits that she has not seen the final "secret side agreements" .... Only U.S. Official Who Saw The Side Deals Between Iran And The IAEA Admits That She Only Saw The 'Rough Drafts'. We do not know what was agreed upon .... but we are told that if you do not support this agreement .... you are then supporting war. Yup .... this Iranian nuclear deal is getting worse with each passing week.

On a side note, President Obama has been insisting that no one has offered any constructive alternatives to his agreement .... that all alternatives lead to war. Sorry .... but I disagree. There are precedents on how to handle a country like Iran .... and war is not the option. Case in point .... the decades long struggle against Soviet Communism. War was never an option for President Reagan, but he knew that to break the status quo of the Cold War and East - West tensions he had to confront the Soviet Union .... even if it meant reversing policies and understandings of past U.S. Presidents who were not interested in openly opposing Moscow. President Reagan did it by openly voicing his support of eastern European opposition groups, thereby giving them the needed morale support that they were not alone. He did it by imposing sanctions and convincing allied states to not do business with the Soviet Union .... and shaming those who did. He started an arms build-up coupled with a political strategy of assembling allied states to present a unified front to Moscow .... followed by clear red lines that cannot be crossed. He supported those who were fighting against Moscow or its proxies with military assistance .... Afghanistan and central America come to mind. He pushed a propaganda war .... "Gorbachev tear down this wall" being one of his more famous lines. All of these components played a critical role in eventually undermining the moral authority of the Soviet state .... and even though it took time .... the seeds were planted for change. It is this strategy that should also be applied to Iran.

President Obama has .... unfortunately ... done the opposite, and he has clearly chosen a different route. When the Green Movement rose after the 2009 fraudulent Iranian elections .... President Obama choose to stay silent ... even after scores were killed and arrested. He has alienated our allies .... only informing them of the Iranian nuclear deal  after the agreement had been reached. And instead of sanctions .... Iran will now be receiving tens of billions in funds and the eventual end of all sanctions ... including the right to buy military arms. As for the propaganda war .... there never was one, and there will certainly be none right now.

President Reagan and his policies laid the groundwork for the eventual end of the Cold War .... will President Obama's policies lay the groundwork for the eventual end of mullahs rule in Tehran? From my vantage point .... I just do not see that happening.