The Russians recently boasted about how Biden gave huge wins to Iran in pending nuclear talks in Vienna. Here is a link to video of “Mikhail Ulyanov, the Russian rep to the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna. He served as the mediator between Rob Malley, the US rep, and the Iranians. He’s bragging about how Russia and China teamed up with Malley to deliver huge wins for Iran.”
As part of those same negotiations, Russia will benefit as well, in the form of sanctions relief. As Jazz Shaw notes at Hot Air, it’s “insane” for “the United States to be offering sanctions relief to Russia in the middle of a war in exchange for getting Iran to sign off on a meaningless and largely unenforceable deal. That’s particularly true when you consider that Iran just” shot missiles at our consulate in northern Iraq. This Biden administration policy confuses even members of the administration. A political appointee, Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was asked why on Earth the Biden administration is doing this.
Even Sherman had to admit to journalists that it’s “hard to understand,” as the Washington Times reports:
A top Biden administration diplomat admitted Sunday that it is “hard to understand” why the U.S. and other world powers are negotiating a new nuclear deal with Iran, as Tehran claimed responsibility for a Sunday rocket attack that struck near the American consulate in Irbil, Iraq.
Appearing on “Fox News Sunday,” Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman was pressed on the administration’s continued push to secure a new nuclear deal with Tehran.
Officials have said the ongoing nuclear talks in Vienna are nearing completion, despite Iran’s aggression toward Americans in Iraq and even amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
As Jazz Shaw notes, Sherman “then goes on to make several claims that almost sound nonsensical. Check it out for yourself.”
Sherman admits that Iran should never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon, repeatedly. But as Shaw notes, she gives “no indication” as “to whether or not this supposed new deal would even achieve that goal. In fact, when the host asks her if she thinks this new deal is ‘as good’ as the one reached under the Obama administration, she admits that she doesn’t know because ‘it’s not closed yet’ and she doesn’t have any details for us.”
The Iranian government hasn’t even let international inspectors into their potential nuclear-weapons creation sites in ages, and even disabled all of the monitoring cameras that were installed. “On what basis are we assuming that’s going to change? Are we supposed to just take Russia’s word for it?,” asks Shaw. More importantly, even if a the deal sought by Biden is reached, the true winner will be Russia because the arrangement will create a “sanctions evasion hub” for it, according to the Free Beacon:
With a nuclear deal likely to be announced in the coming days, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), a think tank critical of the agreement, says a new deal will allow Putin to circumvent tough Western sanctions that have been put in place since Russia invaded Ukraine.
“Policymakers should understand why this deal will establish a sanctions evasion hub for Vladimir Putin based in Iran—dramatically undermining international attempts to halt Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and deter further aggression,” according to the document, which FDD has furnished to lawmakers in the House and Senate. “In addition to looking for a sanctions-free channel for trade, Russia might use this opportunity to learn from Iran’s decades of sanctions circumvention expertise and better prepare to offset future financial pressure from the West.”
It’s hard to keep track of all the ways this is absurd and stupid. As Shaw observes,
We’re keeping quiet about many of Iran’s transgressions because Joe Biden is so desperate to cut a deal with them. And he’s doing this at the same time that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is firing sizable missiles into Iraq near our consulate. The only way the deal goes through is if Russia approves it. And they expect to get some sanctions relief as their part of the bargain and a trade channel with Iran. But we’re told on an hourly basis that the sanctions against Russia are the only thing that will get them under control. And they’re telling us all of this while Putin continues to push forward with the invasion of Ukraine and has started killing journalists in addition to innocent civilians.
