By Christopher W. Holton

Carefully read the article linked below from Reuters and compare it to the horribly misleading headline.

Here’s the headline:

Iran’s Khamenei conditionally approves nuclear deal with powers

Now read this important passage from the article:

“Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place or (new) sanctions will be imposed, at any level and under any pretext, would be (considered by Iran) a violation of the deal,” Khamenei said

Here is the truth that Reuters so desperately tried to conceal from the public. The reality is that there is NO nuclear deal with Iran because the two sides disagree completely on what the so-called “deal” includes:

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who is the ONLY power that counts in the Islamic Republic of Iran, announced that Iran will only observe the nuclear deal with the West if it is given blanket immunity on its sponsorship of terrorism and human rights violations. Any sanctions, Khamenei declared, placed on Iran for any reason would violate the agreement and render it null and void.

This is actually encouraging since many US states plan on pushing forward with Iran divestment.

In a letter to President Hassan Rouhani, Khamenei wrote, “Any comments suggesting the sanctions structure will remain in place or [new] sanctions will be imposed, at any level and under any pretext, would be a violation of the JCPOA.”  This would include sanctions on Iran for its support for terrorism and human rights violations.

The Obama administration has insisted that the accord would only result in the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions, that other sanctions would remain in place, and that additional sanctions relating to Iran’s support for terror and human rights violations could be imposed on Iran.

This clearly demonstrates that there is in fact NO nuclear deal, no “agreement,” since the two sides can’t even agree on what is in the so-called agreement.

In August, President Obama said, “We will continue to have sanctions in place on Iran’s support for terrorism and violation of human rights.” In a hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in July, Secretary of State John Kerry assured Congress: “[W]e will not violate the JCPOA if we use our authorities to impose sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights, missiles or any other non-nuclear reason.”

What all this boils down to is that the Reuters headline is a lie…

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/21/us-iran-nuclear-khamenei-idUSKCN0SF18720151021

Filed under: JCPOA, Khamenei, nuclear program, nuclear talks, Obama, sanctions | Tagged: JCPOA, Reuters |