Let’s say the deal with Iran is the best to be obtained. Does that make it a good deal?
From what has been published Iran will receive billions of dollars in released funds in return for a delay in its ability to build a nuclear bomb which can be verified upon advance notice and with permission of the Iranians.
Mr Obama has made a huge gamble with the fate of the Middle-East and the world at a time when terrorists are running rampant with growing power. His perspective is naive in my view and is focused mostly on building a legacy that will evaporate after he is out of office. If I were Iran and was playing a long-term strategy for immediate gain and knew I could easily violate this deal, I would have agreed to it as well. What would I have to lose? What has Iran given up? Even if it complies with the deal it could have a bomb in ten years.
Let’s hope the experts and even the politicians know what they are doing. A lot is riding on it.
Iran has been on the list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1984 and still is on the list.
To give you an idea about Iran, consider the following from the CIA Fact Book
The UN Security Council has passed a number of resolutions calling for Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment and reprocessing activities and comply with its IAEA obligations and responsibilities, but in November 2013 the five permanent members, plus Germany, (P5+1) signed a joint plan with Iran to provide the country with incremental relief from international pressure for positive steps toward transparency of their nuclear program.
Trafficking in persons:
current situation: Iran is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor; Iranian women and children are subjected to sex trafficking in Iran, Pakistan, the Persian Gulf, and Europe; Iranian children are forced, sometimes by their parents or crime networks, to beg, to work in sweatshops, or to be prostitutes in Iran and abroad; Azerbaijani and, reportedly, Uzbek women and children are also sexually exploited in Iran; Pakistani migrant workers are sometimes subjected to forced labor, including debt bondage; criminal organizations play a large role in human trafficking in Iran
Iran does not comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking, and is not making significant efforts to do so; the government does not share information on its anti-trafficking efforts making it difficult to assess the countryās human trafficking problem or the governmentās attempts to curb it; Iranian law does not prohibit all forms of human trafficking; existing laws against human trafficking, forced labor, and debt bondage reportedly remain unenforced because of a lack of political will and widespread political corruption; Iran has no apparent protection services or rehabilitation programs for victims and has reportedly punished sex trafficking victims for crimes committed as a direct result of being trafficked (2014)
Illicit drugs:
despite substantial interdiction efforts and considerable control measures along the border with Afghanistan, Iran remains one of the primary transshipment routes for Southwest Asian heroin to Europe; suffers one of the highest opiate addiction rates in the world, and has an increasing problem with synthetic drugs; regularly enforces the death penalty for drug offences; lacks anti-money laundering laws; has reached out to neighboring countries to share counter-drug intelligence
From TheAtlantic.com
Hojateleslam Alireza Panahian, the advisor to Office of the Supreme Leader in Universities: āThe day will come when the Islamic people in the region will destroy Israel and save the world from this Zionist base.ā (2013)
Hojatoleslam Ali Shirazi, Khameneiās representative in the Revolutionary Guard: āThe Zionist regime will soon be destroyed, and this generation will be witness to its destruction.” (2013)
Khamenei: āThis barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of Israel which spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated.ā (2014)
Hossein Salami, the deputy head of the Revolutionary Guard: “We will chase you [Israelis] house to house and will take revenge for every drop of blood of our martyrs in Palestine, and this is the beginning point of Islamic nations awakening for your defeat.” (2014)
Salami: “Today we are aware of how the Zionist regime is slowly being erased from the world, and indeed, soon, there will be no such thing as the Zionist regime on Planet Earth.” (2014)
Hossein Sheikholeslam, the secretary-general of the Committee for Support for the Palestinian Intifada: “The issue of Israel’s destruction is important, no matter the method. We will obviously implement the strategy of the Imam Khomeini and the Leader [Khamenei] on the issue of destroying the Zionists. The region will not be quiet so long as Israel exists in it …” (2014)
Mohammad Ali Jafari, the commander-in-chief of the Revolutionary Guard: “The Revolutionary Guards will fight to the end of the Zionist regime … We will not rest easy until this epitome of vice is totally deleted from the region’s geopolitics.” (2015)


I can’t state for certain that it was a good deal but the fact is we have been playing games with this country for 10 years and thus far there has been no stopping their march toward the bomb(so they say). In fact if my memory serves me correct the threat was out at least four or five years ago that Iran was, ‘less than a year’ from having bomb grade plutonium. I believe this has all been a ruse. The President did the right thing. Give them all the rope they need to hang themselves. If they revert to their prior behavior and it is verified then bring down the guillotine, if they conform then perhaps peace will have been brought to this part of the world. We certainly don’t need the likes of Netanyu to muddy the water but I am certain he will as he has been a war monger all along. Ultimately only time will tell but we can’t pander to the Jewish vote as I do believe many good people exist in Israel who want peace and so rattling a saber is not the only answer. The Iranians are not an ignorant people many are well educated and want to see peace so we have to listen to that side of the equation and not categorize them as a nomadic people who just want Israel’s demise. That is the rhetoric used to scare the masses. As the old song goes ‘give peace a chance.
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Let’s hope you are right, but I am concerned. I have friends who are Iranian and live here. They go back to see family a few times a year. They are very nice people. It’s not the average person who created trouble and causes war however.
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I am not sure right now, but I do believe that it isn’t a good deal. Iran got what they wanted: release of Sanctions and $150 Billion released. How can that be good.
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Dick,
I am glad to read that you are apprehensive but not wildly opposed. There is a very good editorial in today Bergen Record to which I direct your attention. It is by E J Dionne who writes for the Washington Post and is on Page A18 in the Opinion section. http://therecord.northjersey.com/epaper/viewer.aspx
Bob B
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Interesting point of view in his piece. I sure hope he is right, but I don’t think we are dealing with a mentality that we understand in the Middle East. Only time will tell, but it’s quite a gamble.
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