On July 14, 2015, during the Obama presidency, Iran’s regime and six world powers known as the P5+1 (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States) signed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known as the Iran nuclear deal, with the intent to marginalize Iran’s nuclear program and monitor it in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. Robert Malley, who worked as a national security official in the Obama administration and is widely credited as one of the architects of the failed Iran nuclear deal, is now appointed yet again by the Biden Administration as special envoy to Iran. White House press secretary, Jen Psaki confirmed Malley’s appointment during a White House briefing last Friday.
The Iran nuclear deal clearly benefited the mullahs, or Islamic leaders, and left the door open for them to secretly continue with their nuclear ambitions. In other words, it was a terrible deal.
It is no secret that the Obama Administration went out of its way to appease Iran’s mullahs by making a horrible deal that offered Tehran billions of dollars in sanctions relief in exchange for agreeing to curb its nuclear program. Iran’s regime and the six world powers (P5+1) engaged in never-ending frivolous negotiations with the terror-sponsoring regime without the slightest consideration for the valiant Iranian people who have been struggling to free themselves from the yoke of Islamist clerics. The result: a huge victory for the mullahs and a new long-term lease on life.
It is déjà vu all over again. The appointment of a known Tehran appeaser, Robert Malley, has raised serious concerns among Iranian opposition groups worldwide. “Malley is widely seen as one of Tehran’s premier apologists in Washington,” New York Times columnist Bret Stephens recently wrote.
It is a sad day for Iran. It is a setback for all Iranian opposition groups. History will prove that the previous US administration did the right thing by withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal and reinstating crippling, targeted sanctions against the mullahs and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps.
The Iran nuclear deal was nothing more than to appease the ruling clerics while they never stopped their nuclear ambitions. In fact, just a few days ago Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced that the Islamic Republic “could be weeks away” from enough nuclear material for a bomb. If the appeasement policy resumes and the fanatic mullahs build and use the bomb, who is ready to accept responsibility?
The US and the international community have a moral obligation to acknowledge that the Iran nuclear deal was a great failure.