To Russia, with love

As the Biden administration continues to slap sanctions on Russia and blame Russian President Vladimir Putin for every economic woe, the White House has been open to granting Russia a hefty payday. 

That day will come if a nuclear deal is reached with Iran, a failed Obama dream now being pursued by Joe Biden. As a result of the deal, Iran will have sanctions lifted and Russia will get a $10 billion contract to build Iran’s nuclear infrastructures, in addition to freedom from related U.S. sanctions. 

"We, of course, would not sanction Russian participation in nuclear projects that are part of resuming full implementation of the JCPOA,” said State Department spokesman Ned Price in April. 

"The Biden administration is so desperate for a deal with Iran they'll broker a $10 billion payoff to Russia and waive their own sanctions to make it happen,” commented Rep. Darrell Issa (D-CA). 

According to a letter to Biden signed by 50 concerned legislators, the nuclear deal would also allow Putin to “be the guarantor of the deal” and “the keeper of massive amounts of Iran’s enriched uranium.” 

This nuclear deal is the renaissance of Obama’s Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a Carter-esque initiative from 2015 which unfroze $150 billion of Iran’s assets in exchange for its promise to reduce its uranium enrichment. 

President Trump withdrew from JCPOA in 2018, and Biden has been trying to revive it. 

At best, the deal can be described as appeasement to a hostile country. At worst, it can be described as the direct armament of a genocidal power. 

The deal, which promises to lift sanctions if the Iranian mullahs curb their nuclear program, begins with the United States giving Iran a one-time sanctions exemption as a show of good faith. Iran would be allowed to sell 50 million barrels of oil and would be able to resume business in the energy and aviation sectors. 

The Iranian regime would be expected to stop enriching uranium to over 5% purity and would start preparing to transfer information to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which would be allowed to fully monitor Iran’s program. 

The deal includes other caveats such as Iran scaling back its uranium enrichment to 3.67% and reducing its stockpiles. 

The deal will begin to phase out in 2024, according to the Jerusalem Post, with Iran’s nuclear program fully unfettered by 2030. 

In the meantime, the entire deal appears to hinge on Iran’s cooperation with the IAEA – who have been complaining that they have no contact with the Iranian government. 

“I have not had any contact with this government . . . that has been there for more than five months,” IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi told reporters in November, according to Times of Israel. 

“This is astonishing and I am saying it openly because I’m saying it to them,” Grossi added. 

Eventually, contact was made, but not the kind the IAEA was hoping for. 

“Unfortunately, Iran’s initial response to the [IAEA Board of Governors’] action has not been to address the lack of cooperation and transparency that prompted a negative report from the IAEA Director General and such strong concern in the Board, but instead to threaten further nuclear provocations and further reductions of transparency,” said the IAEA in a June statement. 

Last month, the IAEA said it is “not in a position to provide assurance that Iran’s nuclear program is exclusively peaceful,” and Reuters reported that Iran now has enough uranium for a nuclear bomb, if enriched further. 

Iran went so far as to demand the right to hide itself from the IAEA’s prying eyes altogether, leading the Biden administration to declare the deal “off the table" . . . for the time being. 

In March, America’s Frontline News reported that according to Mikhail Ulyanov, the lead Russian negotiator for the Iran nuclear talks, the Islamic country was getting more than it bargained for during the nuclear talks.  

“Iranian clerics are fighting for Iranian nuclear – national interests like lions,” Ulyanov said in an interview. “They fight for every comma, every word, and as a rule, quite successfully.”  

The reporter asked Ulyanov if the deal being pursued by the Biden administration could be good for Iran.  

“I am absolutely sincere in this regard when I say Iran got much more than it could expect,” answered Ulyanov. “Much more. Realistically speaking, Iran got more than frankly I expected, others expected. This is a matter of fact.”  

If nuclear talks ever do resume, Iran and Russia are likely to be the largest beneficiaries.