In the past week, the Obama Administration has been on the cusp of signing an agreement with the Iranian regime which would amount to a total victory for Tehran’s goal of becoming a nuclear weapons power and a total defeat for the official U.S. and global position that Iran must not be allowed to becoming a nuclear power. Only French opposition to the agreement prevented this deal from being concluded.
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Instead of seeking to maintain and tighten pressure on Tehran, President Obama has been urging the U.S. Senate not to impose new sanctions on Iran and urging American Jewish leaders to stop asking Congress for them. Already, President Obama has quietly lifted financial pressure on Iran by stopping the blacklisting of entities and individuals assisting Iran’s evasion of international sanctions.
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Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, directs a massive financial enterprise valued at $95 billion that extends beyond the reach of Western economic sanctions, Reuters reported this week.
Khamenei’s organization – called “Headquarters for Executing the Order of the Imam” and abbreviated as “Setad,” the Persian word for headquarters – amassed tremendous wealth since its founding in 1989.
According to the Reuters investigation, Setad has influence in every major Iranian sector, including real estate, finances and charity.
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ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “We are alarmed and deeply critical of President Obama’s decision to delay new and stronger Congressional sanctions on Iran. Strong sanctions are the only thing –– however unlikely their chances of success –– that might bring the Shia Islamist extremist regime in Tehran to stop its nuclear weapons program. President Obama’s lack of firmness and resolve, and previous actions by the Obama Administration on the Iran issue, can lead one to believe that President Obama is not serious, and certainly not effective in stopping Iran. It looks increasingly likely that Iran will simply be allowed to become a nuclear power.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei put a wrinkle in his country’s “charm offensive” on Sunday, saying Israel was an “illegitimate and bastard regime.”
His comments, posted on his Twitter account, came just a few days before a second round of talks in Geneva between his nuclear negotiators and the P5+1, made up of the US, Russia, China, Germany, France and Britain.
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WASHINGTON — Illinois Senator Mark Kirk criticized the Senate for postponing a new round of Iran sanctions, saying on Wednesday the move would aid in a “European appeasement policy.”
“The Senate should not aid and abet a European appeasement policy by softening our sanctions while the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism races toward a nuclear weapons capability,” Kirk said in a statement provided to BuzzFeed in response to a Reuters report about how the Senate Banking Committee is delaying a new set of Sanctions until after Geneva talks later this month.
“The Senate should not aid and abet a European appeasement policy by softening our sanctions while the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism races toward a nuclear weapons capability,” (http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/republican-senator-delaying-iran-sanctions-is-appeasement)
Senator Kirk is right, and the signal being sent by the Senate is extremely regrettable. ZOA has been very clear that sanctions are not the ultimate solution to the problem of Iran. They have been effective at penalizing the Mullahs’ regime, but virtually all experts agree that Iran has already decided to move forward with their nuclear ambitions even in the face of sanctions. The only thing that might stop the nuclear program is a credible threat of force. The force itself would be a significant blow to the regime, but possibly even more significant to the unpopular clique running Iran is the reaction of the people of Iran to a significant attack. According to the regime itself, they might be risking their entire revolution once bombs begin to fall on their nuclear facilities.
Read more by following the link to the official ZOA website’s Blog section!
Iran and the US want a deal, and quick.
Iran is under economic pressure because of the sanctions and both would like to prevent an Israeli attack. The problem is that the best Tehran is likely to offer will likely not be good enough for Israel, because of the worry that Iran would still be able to go nuclear at a time of its choosing.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that he supports President Hassan Rouhani’s latest outreach efforts, though he has reservations, seeming to be hedging his position just in case he wants to pull the plug later.