Earlier this week, I asked whether there was anything the Biden administration wouldn't do to get a nuclear deal -- seemingly any nuclear deal -- done with the Iranian regime. We're getting our answer, as the concessions keep flowing. Not only to the Iranians, mind you, but also to the Russians. Recall that the current talks got stuck in the mud due to Moscow's own 11th hour, self-interested demands. It appears as though Team Biden is prepared to help appease the Russian regime in this context, as maintaining their other appeasement project remains an obsession. Appalling. Hardly surprising at this point, but still appalling:
BREAKING: New Iran Deal Lets Russia Cash in on $10 Billion Contract To Build Nuke Sites -- Biden admin will waive sanctions so Russia's top energy firm can build contested Iranian nuke plant, enriching Moscow even as Ukraine sanctions bite https://t.co/imW59BRXTY
— Adam Kredo (@Kredo0) March 16, 2022
Russia’s top state-controlled energy company is set to cash in on a $10 billion contract to build out one of Iran’s most contested nuclear sites as part of concessions granted in the soon-to-be-announced nuclear agreement that will guarantee sanctions on both countries are lifted. Russian and Iranian documents translated for the Washington Free Beacon show that Rosatom, Russia’s leading energy company, has a $10 billion contract with Iran’s atomic energy organization to expand Tehran’s Bushehr nuclear plant. Russia and the Biden administration confirmed on Tuesday that the new nuclear agreement includes carveouts that will waive sanctions on both countries so that Russia can make good on this contract...The removal of these sanctions will provide Moscow’s Rosatom company with a critical source of revenue as American and European sanctions crush Russia’s economy in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine...A State Department spokesman, speaking on background, told the Free Beacon the administration continues "to engage with Russia on a return to full implementation of the JCPOA. As Secretary Blinken said last week, ‘Russia continues to be engaged in those efforts, and it has its own interests in ensuring that Iran is not able to acquire a nuclear weapon.'"
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For the umpteenth time, the would-be nuclear agreement would absolutely not "ensure that Iran is not able about to acquire a nuclear weapon." It looks like the Biden administration is fixated on giving away massive concessions to Iran's "death to America" regime, and has been engaged in those negotiations through the Russians. Thanks to this arrangement, the Russians are also getting their own lucrative concessions and incentives. We are helping enrich the Russians at a moment in which the Russians are receiving pariah treatment from most of the global community due to their outrageous invasion of Ukraine and related savagery and war crimes. But to help Iran land a sweetheart deal, Biden is offering generous carve-outs from the Ukraine opprobrium. Concessions everywhere in exchange for...essentially nothing:
U.S. WOULD NOT SANCTION RUSSIAN PARTICIPATION IN NUCLEAR PROJECTS THAT ARE PART OF FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL -SENIOR STATE DEPARTMENT OFFICIAL@ReutersIran
— Parisa Hafezi (@PHREUTERS) March 15, 2022
No wonder three members of the American negotiating team couldn't stomach the capitulations anymore and pulled the plug on their own involvement. Andy McCarthy summarizes the latest developments quite succinctly and damningly:
President Biden has assured Russian despot Vladimir Putin that Biden’s proposed Iran nuclear deal will immunize Moscow from the sanctions the administration otherwise portrays as crushing Moscow for its barbaric, unprovoked war against Ukraine. So Russia will not only reap desperately needed revenue; it will also continue to develop the nuclear program of jihadist Iran...While Biden has been telling the world how tough he is when it comes to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, he has also — through his Iran-friendly envoy, Rob Malley — deputized Putin’s diplomat to intercede and cut the deal Biden is desperate to strike with Iran. And mind you, the president of the United States is doing this in order to make a deal with the world’s leading state sponsor of anti-American terrorism, which does not deign to meet face to face with Biden’s envoy. At the eleventh hour, as the parties were preparing to celebrate the new deal that would line Iran’s pocket with billions of dollars in sanctions relief, Putin trolled Biden by demanding that he guarantee in writing that the Ukraine sanctions Biden has been touting would not interfere in the Russia-Iran commerce that is foundational to Biden’s Iran deal...Now, after a few days’ pause, Biden is giving Russia exactly what it wanted — just in public announcements rather than in writing.
Iran's terrorism remains active, including an attack mere days ago. The completion of this reckless and humiliating accord now again seems imminent. With the Brits unfreezing Iranian-tied assets, the regime is starting to release some hostages. The return of these unjustly imprisoned Westerners will be a wonderful relief for their families, this sort of arrangement will encourage more hostage-taking. Much of the world, 'led' by the Biden administration, appears intent on teaching Tehran all the wrong lessons. If the agreement is adopted, will Congress be allowed to weigh in before the money starts to flow to Iran? We don't exactly know, despite a bipartisan majority in opposition.
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