Iranian Nuclear Deal May Already Be Falling Apart

COMMENTARY | The vaunted nuclear deal with Iran, which the Obama administration assures the world will lead to a nuclear free Iran, may already be falling apart, six months before it is due to expire, over disagreements over what it exactly is.

According to the Washington Free Beacon, Iran is disputing the details of the agreement as published on the White House website.

“‘What has been released by the website of the White House as a fact sheet is a one-sided interpretation of the agreed text in Geneva and some of the explanations and words in the sheet contradict the text of the Joint Plan of Action, and this fact sheet has unfortunately been translated and released in the name of the Geneva agreement by certain media, which is not true,’ Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham told the Iranian press on Tuesday.”

This may be a case of a disagreement over the meaning of words, especially as translated between Farsi and English. More likely, though, the Iranians are starting to play games about what the agreement really was, perhaps to extract more concessions, perhaps just to tweak the eagle’s tail feathers. In any case the Iranians have not revealed what they think is inaccurate about the White House fact sheet. Also, apparently the final details of the deal have not, strictly speaking, been worked out.

In other words, like the Obamacare website, the nuclear deal with Iran was not actually ready to be launched before it was announced as having been launched. Thus Obama has done Chamberlain one better. It was as if, after he announced “Peace in our time,” that Hitler would have replied, “No we haven’t” and then accused the British prime minister of lying.

Of course the smart thing to do would be for Obama to announce that the Iranians were not dealing in good faith, that the deal is off, and that more sanctions are on the way. He should also start mending fences with Israel and Arab countries like Saudi Arabia who were shocked by the deal to start with, sending Secretary of Defense Hagel to start joint planning for a military strike.

Of course that would mean Obama would have to admit to a mistake, which he would never do.