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Surprise! The Government Lied About the Iran Deal

A trusty guide to the deal’s contradictions

by
Liel Leibovitz
July 21, 2016
Wikimedia
Iran Air Boeing 747-200. Wikimedia
Wikimedia
Iran Air Boeing 747-200. Wikimedia

Now that we’ve had some time to reflect on the Iran deal in retrospect—by which I mean read the secret documents deliberately kept from the public which contradict many of the core promises used to sell the deal to the American people—it’s time to take stock of all the post-deal “surprises” that are anything but—at least to anyone who has been paying attention to the Obama Administration’s actions and aims. Because the list is long, below is a fun and handy listicle for your amusement:

Surprise! Many of al-Qaeda’s senior leadership live in Iran and openly liaise with the Islamic Republic’s leadership.

Surprise! After ten years, Iran would be able to install centrifuges up to five times as efficient as the 5,060 machines it can now use, which even the government’s go-to resource on Iran’s nuclear program, the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security, says “will create a great deal of instability and possibly even lead to war.”

Surprise! We’re totally fine with the Russians selling advanced weapons to Iran, including long-range S-300 missiles.

Surprise! The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will not be allowed to complete its investigation into just what kind of nuclear weapons work Iran did in its military complex in Parachin.

 Surprise! Under certain clauses of the deal, the IAEA will be forced to limit its public reporting on potential Iranian violations.

Surprise! Iran received full access to $100 billion in escrowed oil funds.

Surprise! John Kerry is now gallivanting through Europe, telling business leaders there that they should not let American sanctions on Iran stop them from doing business with the Islamic Republic.

Surprise! The Obama administration is encouraging American companies to make deals with Tehran, which it sees as a surefire way to make the deal irreversible for the next administration. It’s also lobbying with the global agency fighting money laundering, the Financial Action Task Force, to remove Iran from its blacklist.

Surprise! Boeing now has a $25 billion deal with Iran Air. Boeing also has on its payroll one Thomas Pickering, a former top Clinton Administration official who was instrumental in lobbying for the Iran deal in Congress and in the press. Remember this pro-deal op-ed Pickering wrote in Tablet? Would’ve been good to know—as only the government and Boeing did—that Pickering’s opinion might’ve been swayed by a few cool billions hanging in the balance.

Surprise! We have dumped our traditional allies, and are now fighting on the same side as Iran and Russia in Syria, in support of Bashar al-Assad.

The hits keep on coming. But hey, if you oppose the deal in any way, you’re just another war mongering Zionist neocon freak.

Editor’s note: A previous version of this article appeared under a different headline.

Liel Leibovitz is editor-at-large for Tablet Magazine and a host of its weekly culture podcast Unorthodox and daily Talmud podcast Take One. He is the editor of Zionism: The Tablet Guide.