Ken Berwitz
Sometime this week, President Obama is scheduled to sign anexecutive order to meet the Oct. 15 “adoption day” he has set for the nucleardeal he says he has made with Iran. According to the president\’s timetable thenext step would be “the start day of implementation,” fixed for Dec. 15.
But as things nowstand, Obama may end up being the only person in the world to sign hismuch-wanted deal, in effect making a treaty with himself.
The Iranians havesigned nothing and have no plans for doing so. The so-called JointComprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) has not even been discussed at the IslamicRepublic\’s Council of Ministers. Nor has the Tehran government bothered to evenprovide an official Persian translation of the 159-page text.
The Islamic Majlis,the ersatz parliament, is examining an unofficial text and is due to expressits views at an unspecified date in a document “running into more than 1,000pages,” according to Mohsen Zakani, who heads the “examining committee.”
Nor have Britain,China, Germany, France and Russia, who were involved in the so-called P5+1talks that produced the JCPOA, deemed it necessary to provide the Obama “deal” with any legal basis of their own. Obama\’s partners have simply decided thatthe deal he is promoting is really about lifting sanctions against Iran andnothing else.
So they have starteddoing just that without bothering about JCPOA\’s other provisions. Britain haslifted the ban on 22 Iranian banks and companies blacklisted because of allegedinvolvement in deals linked to the nuclear issue.
German trade withIran has risen by 33 percent, making it the Islamic Republic\’s third-largestpartner after China.
China has signedpreliminary accords to help Iran build five more nuclear reactors. Russia hasstarted delivering S300 anti-aircraft missile systems and is engaged in talksto sell Sukhoi planes to the Islamic Republic.
France has sent itsforeign minister and a 100-man delegation to negotiate big business deals,including projects to double Iran\’s crude oil exports.
Other nations havealso interpreted JCPOA as a green light for dropping sanctions.
Both Obama and hisSecretary of State John Kerry have often claimed that, its obvious shortcomingsnotwithstanding, their nuke deal with the “moderate faction” in Tehran mightencourage positive changes in Iran\’s behavior.
That hasn\’thappened.
The mullahs see the “deal” as a means with which Obama would oppose any suggestion of trying tocurb Iran.
If there have beenchanges in Tehran\’s behavior they have been for the worst. Iran has teamed upwith Russia to keep Bashar al-Assad in power in Syria, mocking Obama\’s “Assadmust go” rhetoric. More importantly, Iran has built its direct militarypresence in Syria to 7,000 men. (One of Iran\’s most senior generals was killedin Aleppo on Wednesday.)
Tehran has alsopressured Iraqi Premier Haidar al-Abadi\’s weak government to distance itselffrom Washington and join a dubious coalition with Iran, Russia and Syria.
