In comments today on CBS News, President Obama touted significant progress on the Iran talks, expressing hope for closing what gaps remained, and saying there is an “extraordinarily reasonable” deal on the table.
The comments support those made last week by Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who said he believes the negotiations have a good chance of being successful.
Eager to avoid another punch-up with Israel and Congressional hawks over the possibility of a deal, however, Obama followed up his praise of the progress the talks had made with a threat to walk away from the negotiations if an acceptable deal isn’t reached.
Administration officials also sought to downplay reports of a decade-long deal eventually being eased, saying the deal is not intended to “expire,” and will limit the civilian nuclear program for “way more than a decade.”
Empire USA keep a promise if it hurts? — Not hardly
Problem is, our voting majority being the upper half that hoards all our wealth, they know full well that Iran is harming our ability to maximize profit in trading war materials for Middle-East oil, which means that they will continue to elect war-hawk politicians who will sanction Iran — unto bankruptcy if need be.
Any deal reached with Iran will be somewhat analogous to the establishment of the League of Nations which our country did not join because the Senate of the time voted no. One aspect of the analogy is that our government is not the sole negotiator. The others are Great Britain, France, Germany, Russia, and China. Any deal with Iran will be presented to the UN for discussion and affirmation by the UN General Assembly. Then the GOP Senators who threaten to torpedo any agreement will be in for a huge shock. The only members voting no will be Israel and one or two little islands in the Pacific Ocean.
There is actually a recent case which was very similar namely the SOFA2008 agreement between the government of Iraq and our government signed by President Bush but never presented to our Senate for approval. President Bush had been forced by a 2007 resolution of the General Assembly of the United Nations to get SOFA2008. Once President Bush had obtained the signature of the President of Iraq and had signed himself that was enough for the vaunted "international community". That community did not need US Senate ratification and will not nee such ratification for a deal with Iran.
The huge irony of the Senators including the possibly felonious Menendez who oppose any deal with Iran is that the issue of Israel vs. Iran of war or no war will remain anchored in the White House if no deal is achieved. Putin will be smiling broadly: I have Ukraine in my lap, you have Israel-Iran in yours.
We're felatin' the donkey, boss! Felatin' it!