The Biden née Obama recipe for negotiating with Iran is simple. Start with a cup of breath-taking naivete – found in the optical section of your local drug store on the "Rose-Colored Glasses" aisle. Add a pinch of get-an-agreement-at-any-cost. Avoid adding any ingredients that could halt long-range missile development or inhibit the spread of global terror. Sweeten to taste with $150 billion and bake until Iran gets a nuclear weapon. You just can't beat that recipe for putting U.S. national security at risk. The Biden administration has a view of the Middle East and Iran, specifically, that appears not grounded in reality.
From revoking the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation for the Iran-backed Yemeni Houthi Militia to lifting the Trump-imposed travel ban, Biden and foreign policy advisors exhibit little appreciation of the hostility Iran has for the U.S.
The Obama Doctrine
In a 2016 Breitbart article, "FACT-CHECK: Yes, The Nuclear Deal Hands '$150 billion' Over To Iran," we learned that the last Iran nuclear deal included the transfer of $150 billion to Iran – followed by another $1.7 billion. Furthermore, both President Obama and then-Secretary of State John Kerry confessed that the Iranian regime would likely use the money to fund terrorism.
Nonetheless, Biden and his advisors want to go back to the negotiating table to resurrect the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), agreed to by President Obama but never ratified by the U.S. Senate, meaning that it never had the legitimacy of a treaty.
Did Biden's foreign policy crew miss the recent rocket attack on the U.S. airbase in Iraq that killed a civilian contractor and injured nine others? Bethan McKernan and Julian Borger reporting for the U.K.'s The Guardian didn't miss that news, explaining that a "little-known group calling itself Sraya Awliya al-Dam, or Guardians of Blood" pulled off the rocket attack. And, you guessed it, the group fronts for factions funded and directed by Iran. McKernan and Borger wrote:
"U.S. President Donald Trump had said further deaths of American civilians would be a red line provoking U.S. escalation in Iraq, making Monday's incident an early challenge for the Biden administration, which is seeking to revive the nuclear deal – scrapped by Trump in 2018 – between Iran and world powers."
But unlike former President Trump, we know what "red lines" have meant to the Obama-like Biden folks: nothing, if the mess in Syria is anything to go by.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is undoubtedly disappointed and unimpressed with the Biden initiative to restart JCPOA talks with Iran. A Fox News article by David Aaro recalls an interview Secretary Pompeo gave to the network’s Shannon Bream:
"'We know under that under [sic] President Obama, they coddled the Iranian regime,' [Pompeo] continued. 'They signed up for a deal that presented a pathway, a clear pathway to a nuclear weapon. When the Iranians will sense that that's the deal, they can strike, they'll continue to inflict costs on the American people. We can't go back. When President Biden talks about going back, the American people can't afford to go back to those policies.'"
But back to those policies, it appears, President Biden intends to go. As Wayne Lee of VOA News explained: "U.S. President Joe Biden said Friday that the United States was driven to 'reengage in negotiations' to revive a 2015 nuclear deal with Iran by the desire to avoid missteps that could further destabilize the Middle East."
Al Qaeda Safe Haven
Even those in the Middle East region closest to Iran are skeptical about the veracity and dependability of the Iranians. In an article for Al Arabiya, a Dubai-based periodical, Abdulrahman al-Rashed writes: "Tehran has proven itself to be untrustworthy, even towards the Americans who assumed Iran's goodwill, only to have 10 U.S. Navy sailors captured by Iranian forces late in the Obama era."
It is all the more troubling to view the Biden Iran-deal redux against the backdrop of Pompeo's caution, explained in a Washington Free Beacon article: "'Al Qaeda has a new home base: the Islamic Republic of Iran,' Pompeo said during a small gathering at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. ... Al Qaeda's senior leadership is now taking refuge in Iran, which has provided logistical support such as travel documents, I.D. cards, and passports."
There is a concept in the Western world that is commonly accepted. We call it "win-win," where both parties believe that each has gotten value at the end of a transaction. There is no such concept dealing with Iran or those hostile to the U.S. They believe that they win only if assured beyond a doubt that the U.S. has lost or been disadvantaged in the end. The left, like Biden and those in his administration, does not, as a rule, grasp that concept and is perfectly sanguine in negotiating to achieve Iran's ends.
Considering the national security of the U.S., it's hard to take comfort in the Biden administration's desire to put the U.S. right where Iran wants it. The American people would, no doubt, rest easier if they thought President Biden was "driven" to consider their safety first.
The views expressed are those of the author and not of any other affiliation.
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