Walk Away From the Talks

by Deacon Blues

As much as the public may support a deal with Iran over lifting the sanctions in exchange for monitoring of its nuclear program, President Obama should be prepared to walk away from the now-extended negotiations if Tehran refuses to allow the IAEA access to military sites and scientists.

I know that the lack of a deal will likely result in an end to multinational sanctions against the Iranian regime, because Iran is counting on, and knows that some countries won't care anymore about any Iranian nuclear program and will want to curry favor with them. That is the major duplicity behind John McCain and Lindsey Graham's assertions that sanctions will simply continue; they won't, and both of them know it. They just don't want to admit their next move would be to bomb Iran.

However, that doesn't mean the United States should be a party to a bad deal that we know going in will not grant the IAEA the access it needs to verify Iranian compliance. For whatever reason, the Supreme Leader is convinced we want a deal so bad that he can poke us in the eye last week and publicly state Iran will never let anyone have access to their military sites. For that reason, President Obama was right to recently say we were prepared to walk away from the negotiations. Yes, it could mean that the existing effective sanctions regime will end, and yes it will mean that an attack from Israel or a next GOP president is certain. But Iran should face the consequences of its actions, namely the certainty that its moderate Sunni neighbors will start treating Tehran as a hostile, nuclear-capable adversary, and arm up in response.

If Tehran is dedicated to avoiding a solid deal, then they should get ready to tell their public why a failing state is quickly becoming an outlaw regime at war with the region.