I'm so old I remember when our administration promised that sanctions would "snap back" if Iran pursues nuclear missiles in violation of the deal:
Iran's ballistic missile launches "are not consistent with the constructive spirit" of a nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers, but it is up to the United Nations Security Council to decide if they violated a resolution, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon said in a confidential report seen by Reuters on Thursday.
Ban's reluctance to state whether the March missile launches flouted the council resolution, which was adopted a year ago as part of the deal to curb Iran's nuclear work, further weakens the case for new sanctions that hinged on the interpretation of ambiguous language in the resolution.
Most U.N. sanctions on Iran were lifted in January when the U.N. nuclear watchdog confirmed that Tehran fulfilled commitments under its nuclear deal with Britain, France, Germany, China, Russia and the United States. But Iran is still subject to a U.N. arms embargo and other restrictions.
Under the U.N. resolution, Iran is "called upon" to refrain from work on ballistic missiles designed to deliver nuclear weapons for up to eight years. Critics of the deal have said the language does not make it obligatory.
I wonder what the Security Council will decide with Russia and China holding veto power over what the Security Council decides?
Face it, as far as Iran is concerned the "constructive spirit" of the deal is that they will construct nuclear weapons (tip to Instapundit):
The German domestic intelligence service says that Iran is making extensive and repeated efforts to obtain technology and materials needed for nuclear weapons, contrary to its longstanding assurances that its nuclear program is peaceful[.]
Here's another report:
The annual report released by Germany’s domestic security agency, the Bundesamt für Verfassungsschutz (BfV), on Thursday said that Iranian attempts to acquire technologies in Germany “continued on a quantitatively high level by international standards” in 2015.
“This was particularly the case for merchandise that could be deployed in the field of nuclear technology,” the report said.
And missile technology, they say. Fancy that.
And is it only in Germany? Is our intelligence community picking up the same efforts? And is the administration keeping it quiet? Because this was in an annual report. Surely the German agency notified their government of these findings at the time rather than waiting for a scheduled annual document to break the news.
Oh, and let's not forget the uranium traces discovered in a facility we can't look at (see the update).
Add in the deal's windfall for Iranian weapons purchases, which our intellectual superiors insisted wouldn't increase Iranian support for terror and whatnot "dramatically."
Yet the left-leaning Brookings Institution says the first year shows the deal is "off to an encouraging start" (!)
Would anything short of a glowing crater where the city of one of our allies once was discourage these people?
To be fair, it is surely encouraging from Iran's point of view.
Our negotiators were fools for creating enough wiggle room in a deal that allows Iran to fly a nuclear missile through it (or here if you don't have WSJ access):
So let’s recap. Mr. Obama says Iran is honoring the nuclear deal, but German intelligence tells us Tehran is violating it more aggressively than ever. He promised “snapback” sanctions in the event of such violations, but the U.S. is operating as Iran’s trade-promotion agent. He promised “unprecedented” inspections, but we’re not permitted to inspect sites where uranium was found. He promised an eight-year ban on Iran’s testing of ballistic missiles, but Tehran violated that ban immediately and repeatedly with only mild pushback from the West. He promised that the nuclear deal was not about “normalizing” relations with a rogue regime. But he wants it in the WTO.
Presidential (and Secretary of State!) legacy is being written every day, eh?
Have a super sparkly day.
UPDATE: More.
