Readers react to P5+1’s nuclear deal with Iran

The Iran deal is a total and stunning victory for Tehran, and no amount of window dressing will hide this fact.

By LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Letters (photo credit: REUTERS)
Letters
(photo credit: REUTERS)
With regard to “Six world powers adopt nuclear deal with Iran” (July 15), sadly, we live in a world of deception and political corruption, and nothing more illustrates this than the shocking and irresponsible deal that has now been signed with Iran. It is a total and stunning victory for Tehran, and no amount of window dressing will hide this fact.
Iran is a country that has vowed time and again to destroy the State of Israel. It has a regime that has vowed to eliminate “the Satan that is America.” It still holds American prisoners. And as is internationally and widely documented, it supports terrorism all over the world.
Yet the world, led by a totally misguided and disingenuous President Barack Obama (who surely has sealed his legacy as the most ineffective foreign-policy president in the history of the United States), will now give Iran hundreds of billions of dollars through trade and the lifting of sanctions in return for its not pursuing the manufacture of nuclear arms for the next 10 years. In other words, Iran now gets everything it wanted in monetary reward, and in 10 years’ time it gets the nuclear weapons it craves.
Opposing voices can criticize Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and even suggest that his campaign against the deal was a failure. I would argue to the contrary, in as much as his voice was the only one that alerted the world to the extraordinary dangers and deceptive nature of the deal.
This is sad day for diplomacy, tranquility and peace. The Iranians dance in the streets in celebration of how they have yet again deceived the world. And the free world cowers and wonders what will be the inevitably tragic consequences of the most shocking agreement since Neville Chamberlain proclaimed “Peace in our time” – something that was immediately followed by the second world war.
ARNOLD EPSTEIN
Jerusalem
Clearly, the lessons of history have been lost on US Secretary of State John Kerry and UK Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond.
Otherwise, they wouldn’t have emulated, let alone surpassed, the naïve stupidity of Britain’s pre-war prime minister, Neville Chamberlain, in believing that the Iranian regime was any different from that of Adolf Hitler.
MICHAEL GROSS
Herzliya Pituah
My mind is prone to work in strange ways, so as I read about the deal and US President Barack Obama’s claim that the spread of atomic weapons had been stopped, I thought how overjoyed the family of Neville Chamberlain must be today.
The mantle of DPE (Duped Politician Extraordinaire) has clearly passed from Chamberlain to Obama.
MICHAEL D. HIRSCH
Kochav Yair
As the Number 1 sponsor of Islamic terrorism, the Islamic dictatorship of Iran is responsible for the murder of tens of thousands of innocent people, including Americans. It has repeatedly called for the murder of millions of Americans and Israelis. But US President Barack Obama – who is primarily responsible for the rise of the murderous Islamic State across the Middle East and Africa – has just rewarded Iran for building a nuclear arsenal to carry out its intentions of mass murder.
The billions of dollars in sanctions relief will undoubtedly be used to murder more innocent people, including Americans, and the deal brokered will not stop Iran from building a nuclear arsenal.
This makes Obama even worse than Neville Chamberlain, and an enemy of America.
The fact that Obama will likely get away with this illustrates how intellectually and morally bankrupt the US has become.
GLENN WOICESHYN Calgary, Canada It is the most shocking news in this era, regarding the greatest country on the planet giving in to Iran’s nuclear demands. What a mockery! Has the P5+1 forgotten the grave error in believing the North Koreans? At this stage, nothing can possibly be done.
God bless America and the rest of the world, and keep Israel from harm’s way.
N.E. SAMUEL Yavne The best response to the insane Iran deal came from Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin.
In a post headlined “Critics relieved that the Iran deal is absurd,” she writes: “There is a perverse sense of relief among the most fierce defenders of Israel and administration critics: Had the Iran deal been remotely reasonable, it would be hard to defeat. Now, it is not only possible but likely.”
MLADEN ANDRIJASEVIC Beersheba When considering the future of Israel, the only thing worse for Israel than this treaty with Iran is having Benjamin Netanyahu as our prime minister, together with his government.
Over the past few years, Netanyahu’s policies have alienated support for Israel from all the countries of the world, making only North Korea, I think, less popular. He has insulted and criticized world leaders, and went behind the back of the US president by addressing Congress, fully knowing that Barack Obama was against this.
The prime minister made Israel look stupid before the UN General Assembly with his cartoon show about the nuclear bomb, and now acts all surprised and annoyed when the agreement drawn up by these same people does not take into account Israel’s worries.
The only thing more stupid than the present government has to be the people who voted for Netanyahu. As you seed, so shall you reap STANLEY CANNING Kfar Hamaccabi Regarding Shmuley Boteach’s brilliant “To President Obama, Iran’s threats never matter” (No Holds Barred, July 14), I would like to believe that this column finds its way onto prominent pages of the Washington Post, New York Times and other major US papers. Perhaps this would help to wake up a few sleeping senators.
JOYCE KAHN
Petah Tikva
The excellent “In Iran we trust?” by Emanuelle Ottolenghi and Benjamin Weinthal (Analysis, July 12) should have served as a wakeup call for the P5+1. Unfortunately, like most things concerning Israel, those countries are hard of hearing and have myopic vision, leading to the disastrous agreement negotiated in Vienna.
The failure to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities rests with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and, in particular, Dr. Hans Blix, who was director- general from 1981 to 1997.
Not only did this Swedish lawyer fail to ensure that Iran complied with inspection/monitoring agreements with the IAEA, but his annual reports deliberately failed to mention noncompliance.
Blix was followed by yet another lawyer, Egypt’s Dr. Mohammed ElBaradei, who held the post until 2009 and not only followed in his predecessor’s footsteps, but ensured major cover-ups. In December 2009, Dr. ElBaradei was named director-general emeritus of the IAEA.
It is clear that the IAEA should be managed by scientists who understand the problems, rather than by ignorant, non-scientific legal beavers. The organization cannot be trusted by Israel to ensure Iran’s full compliance with the agreements signed.
In October 2005, Dr. ElBaradei and the IAEA were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize “for their efforts to prevent nuclear energy from being used for military purposes and to ensure that nuclear energy for peaceful purposes is used in the safest possible way.”
In its citation, the Norwegian Nobel Committee referred to the IAEA’s work as being of “incalculable importance,” and to Dr. ElBaradei as an “unafraid advocate of new measures to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation regime.”
This made a mockery of the ideals of the Nobel Prize. Let us hope the committee doesn’t make the same mistake with US Secretary of State John Kerry.
COLIN L. LECI
Jerusalem