Quote of the Day:

If his negotiations with Iran are any indication, [President Obama] is the kind of innocent abroad who pays $100,000 for a carpet that’s worth $100.

Max Boot

If Congress doesn’t have a vote on the Obama administration nuclear deal with Iran, that branch of government will have been diminished. Boot points out why the deal itself, aside from any other consideration, is a disaster.

The talks with Iran began with the stated purpose of dismantling Iran’s nuclear capacity, but the U.S. has made so many concessions that Iran will actually be able to develop nuclear weapons unfettered by economic restraints. Boot explains how these stated goals have been utterly lost:

All that Iran has to do is to promise not to enrich too much uranium or weaponize for the next decade or so and in return the world will, in essence, apply its seal of approval to the Iranian nuclear program.

But that still isn’t enough for the rapacious mullahs. Among other conditions, they are demanding that sanctions be lifted the minute the agreement gets signed.

Obama has been insisting that the U.S. would lift sanctions only in stages, as Iranian compliance is verified. But on Friday Obama signaled that he is willing to make preemptive concessions on this issue so as to ensure that a deal gets done by his artificial deadline of the end of June.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Iran could receive from $30 billion to $50 billion in frozen oil money as soon as it signs a deal, out of a total of $100 billion to $140 billion currently held in frozen offshore accounts. That’s a massive bribe to sign on the dotted line.

And that’s just what Obama is saying in mid-April. Imagine what will happen after the Iranian negotiators inform Secretary of State Kerry that $50 billion isn’t enough–oh and, they will add (as they have already done), they shouldn’t have to make a full accounting of their previous nuclear-weapons work, they shouldn’t have to allow inspectors unfettered access, and they shouldn’t have to export any enriched uranium.

Think Obama will hold the line? Hardly. This is only the beginning of the complete cave-in that the White House is prepared to make in order to get a deal, any deal, the details be damned.

In the face of mounting difficulties with getting a deal with Iran, the president has called for “creative negotiations.” This likely means doing anything to get a deal, no matter how bad.

The Wall Street Journal also has an editorial on the president’s seeming inclination to give away anything in the quest of his legacy deal. The president has said that, if Iran doesn’t live up to its end of the bargain, the U.S. can “snap back” with more sanctions. This reminds us of the way he blithely said we could zip back to Iraq if his withdrawal ran into problems. The Journal observes:

The word “snap-back” in any such arrangement is spin to sell a deal, not a realistic description of the process. Mr. Obama nonetheless said on Friday that “I’m confident” the negotiations on sanctions “will be successful.” Look for more U.S. concessions on sanctions as the June deadline approaches.

If you are worried about the very existence of Israel, which Iran has vowed to annihilate, your worry is indeed justified.

The U.S. has less influence in the world than it did six years ago, and we should hate to see its remaining influence used to bring about a nuclear Iran that will have a profound effect on the Middle East and perhaps even destroy the state of Israel.