Stephen L. Carter ― Nuke Deal Gives Iran Room to Cheat

Professor Stephen Carter looks at the proposed Iran Deal, finding a weakness in its "all or nothing" approach.

"A couple of weeks before the Iran agreement was finalized, I argued in this space that the negotiations could in theory reach an acceptable outcome even if one expected the Iranian regime to do a small amount of cheating. I still believe that. What I didn't anticipate was that room for cheating might be baked into the deal. But I fear that's exactly what's happened.

I am not referring to the question of whether Iran could hide its noncompliance within the bureaucratic labyrinth established by the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action for those inevitable occasions when leaders in Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors reach an impasse. Others have tackled that point masterfully. I am concerned about what happens if at the conclusion of a dispute about an inspection, Iran will not back down."

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Deroy Murdock — Kerry Hypocritically Slams Cotton’s Letter to Tehran

(The National Review)

Kerry’s complaints about alleged GOP meddling in Obama’s atomic-bomb talks with Iran would ring less hollow absent Kerry’s own interference with sensitive negotiations over war and peace. As I reminded voters on NRO during his 2004 presidential campaign, Kerry parachuted into America’s discussions with North Vietnam as that conflict wound down.

“I have been to Paris,” Kerry told — of all bodies — the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in April 1971. “I have talked with both delegations at the peace talks, that is to say the Democratic Republic of Vietnam and the Provisional Revolutionary Government and of all eight of Madame Binh’s points.” These were, respectively, North Vietnam, the Viet Cong’s political wing, and its delegate, Madame Nguyen Thi Binh.


Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/415307/kerry-hypocritically-slams-cottons-letter-tehran-deroy-murdock?target=author&tid=63283

Stephen L. Carter — Lincoln's Lesson for Obama on Iran

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met today in Munich with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as a prelude to the resumption of the P5+1 talks on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Many Democrats and Republicans alike are growing increasingly wary about how much the Barack Obama administration might give away to get a deal -- and how serious the Iranians are. The administration, for its part, insists that it will agree to nothing that jeopardizes the security of the U.S. or Israel, or allows Iran to gain a nuclear weapon.

The negotiations are apparently controversial even in Tehran, where hard-liners worry that their leaders may be giving away the store. Perhaps the need for both sides to quiet domestic critics helps explain the dust-up this week as the Obama administration said that the Iranian ballistic missile program is part of the talks, but the Iranian government insists that it isn’t.

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