Reactions to the Iran deal

Iran and US Already at Odds Over Conditions of Nuclear Agreement

Only hours after sides reached a framework agreement in the Iranian nuclear negotiations, Foreign Minister Javad Zarif accused the Obama administration of downplaying gains made by Tehran, simply to appease a paranoid American Congress.

Sputnik News,

3 April, 2015

For a moment, no one was sure if it was going to happen. As the March 31 deadline came and went, the likelihood of an agreement between Iran and the P5+1 nations seemed anything but sure. However, a tentative framework deal was reached on Thursday evening.

But the political drama isn’t over. Taking to Twitter, Zarif has criticized US officials of misleading the American public about key details of the agreement.

"The solutions are good for all, as they stand," Zarif tweeted. "There is no need to spin using 'fact sheets' so early on.

This was in reference to details released by the White House after the deal was made. Zarif says that the fact sheet implies that sanctions against Iran will be lifted gradually, while in reality, the agreement states that all nuclear sanctions will be removed immediately.

"Iran/5+1 Statement: 'US will cease the application of ALL nuclear-related secondary economic and financial sanctions.' Is this gradual?" he tweeted.

Earlier, Iranian Press TV, reported other claims which seemed to contradict US claims. While the fact sheet says that “Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium at its Fordow facility for at least 15 years,” Iranian media offered different reports.

"In the framework of the agreement, none of Iran’s nuclear facilities as well as the previous activities will be stopped, shut down or suspended and Iran’s nuclear activities in all its nuclear facilities including Natanz, Fordow, Isfahan and Arak will continue," Press TV reports.

Zarif also told reporters that Iran will be allowed to sell enriched uranium on the international market.

Congressional Republicans have consistently stated their objection to any deal made with Iran over its nuclear program, distrusting Tehran's true intentions. After the framework was announced, US House Speaker John Boehner released a statement calling the deal an "alarming departure" from the administration's stated goals. If the White House is trying to downplay crucial details, it could be doing so in an attempt to mislead Republican lawmakers, who will ultimately have to approve any formal agreement before US-imposed sanctions can be lifted.

According to the White House, the framework deal states that nuclear sanctions against Tehran will be lifted once inspectors have "verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps." Inspections will be in place for at least 15 years, and during that time Iran agrees to operate only 5,060 enrichment centrifuges.

A critical part of the agreement states that Iran’s "breakout" time – the time needed for Iran to develop a nuclear bomb – will be extended to at least one year. Currently, that breakout time is 2 to 3 months, according to the White House.

Russia Ready to Sell S-300 Missiles to Iran if Sanctions Fall

_{Russia may resume a deal to deliver S-300 surface-to-air defense systems to Iran if only the UN decides to lift its ban on arms sales to Tehran, a leading Russian defense expert said on Friday}

Sputnik News,

3 March, 2015

Negotiators from Iran, the United States and other world powers agreed on Thursday to a framework for a final agreement to curb Tehran’s nuclear program.

Iran agreed in principle to accept significant restrictions on its nuclear facilities for at least a decade and submit to international inspections.

In return, economic sanctions unilaterally imposed on the Islamic Republic by the US and EU will be lifted.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov then said that a UN arms embargo against Iran should also go.

"Lifting sanctions on Iran, including the arms embargo, would be an absolutely logical thing to do,” said Igor Korotchenko, who heads the Global Arms Trade Analysis Center think tank in Moscow.

“Of key importance to us is the delivery of the upgraded S-300 missiles to Iran… A contract to this effect could be resumed on terms acceptable to both Moscow and Tehran,” he dded

In 2007, Russia contracted to sell to Iran $800 million worth of S-300 missile units. Moscow suspended the contract in 2010 following a UN Security Council resolution to stop the sale of arms to Iran due to its controversial nuclear energy program.

Iran then sued Russia's state arms exporter Rosoboronexport at the OSCE Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in Geneva, with Moscow eventually offering Tehran a settlement and a promise to deliver the Antei-2500 missile systems at a later date, which was not specified.

Tehran refused, insisting on the implementation of the original deal

This is from the NY Times, no less - 

U.S. Agencies See No Move by Iran to Build a Bomb

Even as the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog said in a new report Friday that Iran had accelerated its uranium enrichment program, American intelligence analysts continue to believe that there is no hard evidence that Iran has decided to build a nuclear bomb.

Recent assessments by American spy agencies are broadly consistent with a 2007 intelligence finding that concluded that Iran had abandoned its nuclear weapons program years earlier, according to current and former American officials. The officials said that assessment was largely reaffirmed in a 2010 National Intelligence Estimate, and that it remains the consensus view of America’s 16 intelligence agencies.

The CNN view

Iran deal threatens ‘survival of Israel’, increases risk of ‘horrific war’ – Netanyahu

NATO: Iran Deal or Not, Missile Shield Will Stay

NATO will go ahead with its plans to deploy a fully-fledged missile defense network in Europe despite the recent agreement with Tehran aimed at preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons, spokeswoman Oana Lungescu told Sputnik on Friday

Sputnik News,

3 April, 2015

MOSCOW (Sputnik), Alexander Mosesov — The spokeswoman reiterated that the so-called European missile shield is not directed against Russia.

"The threat to NATO countries posed by the proliferation of ballistic missiles continues to increase… The framework [Iran nuclear program] agreement does not change that fact," Lungescu said.

On Thursday, Tehran and the P5+1 countries, comprising Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, China, France and Germany agreed a political framework for a comprehensive agreement aimed at ensuring the peaceful nature of Iranian nuclear activities.

In December 2014, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Washington had created threats for Russia by expanding its missile defense shield, placing elements in Eastern Europe, close to the Russian border.

Never Ever Gonna Give You Up

The deal with Iran – a major sign of the Empire’s weakness

the Vineyard of the Saker.
2 April, 2015



So a deal was apparently reached in Lausanne.  It is not quite final, and there might be zig-zags, but it looks likely that a deal will be reached between Iran and the AngloZionist Empire.  Except for, in this case, the Anglos appear to be distinctly happier than the Zionists.  So, what is going on here?

First and foremost, and I have said that innumerable times on this blog, this is not about some putative Iranian nuclear weapons program. I will not repeat all the arguments in detail here (those interested can look into the archives), but here is a short summary of why Iran never intended to have a nuclear weapon:

1) Iranians are very smart, not stupid.  They fully understand that a few nuclear weapons would make absolutely no difference in a war against Israel or the US or anybody else.  If used aggressively, they would trigger a massive response and if used defensively, in response to an attack, they would not be here in the first place, because any attack would begin by a counter-force disarming strike, possibly a nuclear one.  Any putative Iranian nuclear forces lacks both the survivability and flexibility needed to be used or even to deter any attack.

2) Acquiring a military nuclear capability would instantly turn Iran into a pariah state.  We saw the sanctions against Iran against an imaginary nuclear program; you can imagine what they would be against a real one.

3) Iran is uninvadable as a country – it is too big, the terrain too complex, the population too large and, frankly, its armed forces too strong.  Compared to Iran, both Afghanistan and Iraq were easy targets (there is a reason why the US has not even attempted to invade Iran since 1979!).  Iran can, however, be very heavily bombed with missiles and successive airstrikes.  This is not the kind of threat a nuclear capability can deter.  In other words, Iran does not even need nukes.

4) The US intelligence community has admitted that Iran has no military nuclear program.  All they could claim is that Iran had one in the past.  Considering the pressure the US intelligence community was under at the time, this is as exculpatory a report as can be realistically expected.

5) The Iranian spiritual leaders have gone on the record multiple times and most officially declared that nuclear weapons are immoral, un-Islamic and forbidden.  Secularists tend to believe that religious folks are always liars, I tend to believe that they do follow the principles which they believe in.

6) It is most definitely not about anybody wanting to get (or prevent) and “Islamic bomb” as Pakistan already has just that.

So if this not about nukes, what is it?

Simple!

1) It is about not allowing the Islamic Republic of Iran to become a viable, vibrant and prosperous alternative to the Wahabi and Zionist client-states in the region.

2) Is is about showing that even Iran can and will be bullied into submission to the Axis of Kindness.

3) It is about preventing Iran from acquiring its own civilian nuclear research program, which is a source of technology and pride
.
4) It is a pretext to impose vicious sanctions on Iran
5) It is a pretext to attack Iran militarily

6) It is about subverting the Iranian society

Now that we have listed the real stakes of the apparent agreement in Lausanne, we can also explain why Obama is pushing the deal while Netanyahu is appalled by it.  The US deep state apparently came to the realization that a war with Iran would be a disaster for the USA and its Empire and the US might even be considering reaching some kind of modus vivendi with Iran before the entire Middle-East explodes, because of the multiple foreign policy mistakes of the USA in the region.  We are not talking about a US-Iranian love fest, at least not quite yet, but rather a way from freeing the USA from this exhausting and useless confrontation with the key regional superpower.  With now three major potential wars possible (Ukraine, Yemen, Iran), the US wants at least one put back on the back burner to free resources for the other two.

For the Israelis, this is very bad news indeed, not because Iran is about to “commit another Holocaust” (sic), but because they put all their power, prestige, influence and, last but not least, hysterics into whipping up a crazy anti-Iranian panic and they have failed.  These feelings of failure and fear will now also be shared by the Saudis.

Will the Israelis strike alone?

Militarily, they don’t have what it takes to meaningfully strike Iran.  But they sure can strike hard enough to create a crisis and since artificially creating fear, chaos and tensions is what Israel does best, there is a good chance they might try that in despair.  The problem with any of such strategies is that Iran has numerous asymmetrical options which I listed as far back as 2007 in an article entitled Iran’s asymmetrical response options.  Much has changed since 2007, but fundamentally these options for Iran are still there.

I have to confess here that I have been predicting a US and/or Israeli attack on Iran since I created this blog in 2007 and, so far at least, I have been proven wrong.  Will the Israeli Ziocrazies prove me right now?  Possibly.  For them, it has become a political necessity to show the region and the world “who is boss” and right now, it sure does not look like Israel is.

Between the the war in the Ukraine, the war in Yemen and the tensions around Iran – 2015 is shaping up to become an exceptionally dangerous year.  And the key leaders are all either dumb, or crazy, or ideologically fanaticized.  God help us all in our resistance to the Empire and its shock troops!

The Saker

Soraya Sepahpour-Ulrich Discusses Iranian Nuclear Deal on RT International