Trump's Iran Deal Must Be Nothing Like Obama's

It's unclear who exactly the White House is bargaining with or whether those officials will have the power to implement an agreement. We do, however, know what a "good deal" looks like, which is, more or less, everything former President Barack Obama's Iran deal wasn't.

A popular talking point among left-wing punditry maintains that Trump is seeking an off-ramp for his allegedly unpopular and failed war that looks exactly like the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, the deal Obama struck with the mullahs years ago, which the president ripped up in 2018.

That's clearly untrue.

The Obama deal's restrictions, as feeble as they were, would already have sunset. Under the JCPOA, Iran was not only allowed to continue uranium enrichment, but it wasn't compelled to decommission any of its reactors.

Nor did the Obama deal put any limits on the Iranian ballistic missile program, not even on intercontinental ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear warheads.

And, incidentally, though the regime has claimed it had no plans to develop such weaponry, the other day, it fired a missile at the joint U.K.-U.S. Diego Garcia military base 2,500 miles away in the Indian Ocean.

Of course, there was no genuine way to verify that any of the JCPOA's stipulations were being met by the clerics since the agreement didn't contain anytime-anywhere inspections.

The Obama deal was worse than nothing, however, because it gave the regime protection from Israeli strikes.

The clerics could act with impunity, benefitting from sanctions relief — not to mention, more ransom payments from Democratic presidents — all the while funding their destabilizing proxy armies, building a ballistic shield and shrinking the breakout time for large-scale enrichment and nuke weaponization to months or weeks.

A decade ago, Trump called the JCPOA the "worst deal ever negotiated." But I suppose it all depends on how you view the Middle East. If the goal of the JCPOA was to stop the clerics from nuclearizing and emerging as an even bigger threat to regional and world peace, then, indeed, the deal was disastrous.

Then again, if the deal was, as many rightly suspect, the Obama administration's way of lifting the mullahs as a counterforce to Israel and Saudi Arabia, then it made complete sense.

Democrats and the isolationist Right naysayers have been wrong about everything having to do with Iran thus far. So, they've moved on from predicting World War III and endless quagmires to lamenting the lack of a clear-cut "strategy" to ending the conflict. But Trump's reported prewar demands of Iran remain the right ones. And they are nothing like Obama's Iran deal.

The president should insist that the regime once and for all dismantle its nuclear facilities in Natanz, Isfahan and Fordow and hand over its existing stockpiles of enriched uranium, which the Iranians reportedly admitted to Trump envoy Steve Witkoff could make 11 bombs.

Iran is already a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, pledging never to acquire nuclear weapons. So, there's no need for any sunsetting of the agreement.

Trump should also insist the clerics suspend their ballistic program and cease funding and assisting terrorist organizations.

Since the mullahs have used negotiations to string along past administrations and extract concessions, sanctions relief should be contingent on Iran upholding its end of the agreement.

Despite the demoralizing efforts of the media, the U.S. and the Iranian regime aren't negotiating on equal footing.

It bears repeating that, thus far, the Iran war is perhaps the most devastating and effective military campaign in modern history.

At worst, the U.S. and Israel have decapitated decades of institutional knowledge and experience of the Islamic regime.

The Iranian ballistic program has been vastly degraded, as has Iran's ability to wage effective conventional war or to prop up its proxy militias.

Iran's only real leverage right now is to undermine the world's economy by closing the Strait of Hormuz, which only reinforces the argument that it should not be in possession of ballistic missile programs, Chinese supersonic weapons and nuclear weapons.

If the remaining regime officials don't agree to stop, Trump can keep pounding their military and government infrastructure until it reaches a tier of leadership that will talk.

Or better yet, collapse.

With a high-impact, low-casualty war, Trump has devastated our enemy's military and brought back credible deterrence.

War is no panacea, of course. Unlike anything in the JCPOA, however, those would be big, tangible wins.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Previously:
• 03/24/26 Class-War Economics Is Counterproductive and Un-American
• 03/20/26 Paul Ehrlich is dead. Regrettably, his legacy isn't
• 03/13/26 When 'Islamophobia' Becomes a License to Lie
• 03/06/26 Trump eradicates 47 years of feckless foreign policy
• 03/02/26 What Trump Should Tell the American People About Iran
• 02/20/26 Yes, Dems are crazy
• 02/20/26 Obama Is in No Position to Lecture Us About Decency
• 02/13/26 Shut Up and Ski
• 02/06/26 Don't Cry for The Washington Post, It Helped Destroy Media
• 01/30/26 Price Controls Won't Work Any Better for Republicans Than It Does Dems
• 01/16/26 The Left's Silence on Iran Is NOT Hypocrisy
• 12/26/25: For JD Vance, Free Speech Only Means His Friends Can't Be Criticized
• 12/12/25: The Left Doesn't Believe in the Constitutional Order
• 12/07/25: War Powers Are Dead
• 11/27/25: MTG Embodies the Inanity of Populism
• 11/14/25: Gaslighting Americans is latest Dem Disaster
• 11/11/25: Trump's Filibuster Nuke Would Hand Dems the Keys To Remake America
• 11/04/25: Let's Talk About the Real Genocide of Christians in Africa
• 10/16/25: Obamacare Is a Massive Failure. The GOP Shouldn't Bail It Out
• 10/10/25: Why Aren't 'Ceasefire Now!' Activists Celebrating Trump's Gaza Peace Deal?
• 09/12/25: Israel's Strike on Qatar Should Have Happened Years Ago
• 09/05/25: An Open Letter to My Esteemed Colleagues at the International Association of Genocide Scholars
• 08/29/25: The President Doesn't Get to Dictate How We Express Ourselves
• 08/22/25: Is Socialism as Popular as the Media Think?
• 08/15/25: Save the Little Sisters of the Poor!
• 08/08/25: RFK Jr.'s War on Vaccines and Public Health Continues
• 08/01/25: Europe's Recognition of 'Palestine' Is a Cynical Joke
• 07/18/25: Legacy Media Still Covering for Biden
• 06/27/25: Trump Learned the Lessons of Iraq
• 05/30/25: We Have No Constitutional or Moral Duty to Subsidize Harvard
• 05/30/25: Welcome to the Intifada, America
• 05/16/25: Scapegoating Biden Isn't Going to Solve the Dems' Problems
• 05/09/25: The Pulitzer Prizes Have Become a Sad Joke
• 05/05/25: How Do You Do, Fellow White People? Tim Walz Says Hello!
• 04/25/25: Ketanji Brown Jackson Makes a Powerful Argument for School Choice
• 04/18/25: If Everyone Is an Expert, No One Is
• 03/31/25: The Left's Imaginary COVID 'Reckoning'
• 03/21/25: Sorry, Conspiracy Theorists -- Lee Harvey Oswald Acted Alone
• 03/03/25: Mitch McConnell: A GOP Hall of Famer?
• 02/21/25: RFK's Dangerous Autism Lie
• 02/14/25: It's Time to End the EV Racket
• 02/07/25: If You Really Support Immigration, Stop Excusing Chaos
• 02/03/25: Trump's Gaza Proposal Makes Complete Sense
• 01/24/25: How Biden's Pardons Normalize Abuse of Power
• 01/17/25: Israel Makes a Deal With the Actual Devil
• 01/13/25: Why Javier Milei Matters
• 12/20/24: The Obama Doctrine Is Dead
• 12/13/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 12/09/24: It's time for a national conversation about left-wing violence
• 11/08/24: Don't Trash the Constitution to Dunk on the Libs
• 11/08/24: This 'liberation' will NOT be reported
• 11/01/24: HARRIS Is the Bigger Threat to the Constitutional Order
• 09/20/24: Fact checked! Harris Is the Extremist
• 07/13/24: Explain Yourself, Kamala Harris!
• 07/05/24: How Biden's Mental Decline Went From 'Misinformation' to Fact in a Week
• 04/12/24: Biden Is Now Chasing the 'Death to America' Voter
• 03/15/24: Turns Out Biden Lied About Hur, Beau, And Why He Pilfered Classified Docs
• 02/09/24: Why Biden Is Threatening to Veto Aid to Israel
• 02/09/23: Electric Cars Are a Scam
• 06/30/23: Americans Have Never Been Less Threatened by 'Extreme Weather'
• 03/03/23: Questioning Biden's Ukraine Policy Doesn't Make You an 'Isolationist'
• 01/20/23: No ribbons? Don't hide behind religion!
• 01/13/23: On Classified Documents, Joe Biden Is Out of Excuses
• 04/29/22: Biden's Ministry of Truth
• 04/08/22: The Most Radical Abortion Law in the Nation
• 04/01/22: Recuse Yourself, Joe Biden
• 03/25/22: No, School Boards Are Not 'Banning Books'
• 03/11/22: Let Them Drive Teslas
• 01/28/22: It's Not Government's Job to 'Root Out' Misinformation
• 01/14/22: Biden's Big Elections Lie
• 01/07/22: Schumer's Ugly 'Voting Rights' Gamble
• 12/24/21:AOC's Grasp on American Governance Is a 'Farce'
• 12/17/21: Dems Pivot from Build Back Better to Useless Extremism
• 11/19/21: Reckoning' Over Steele Dossier?
• 10/15/21: The Biden White House Will Pay for Playing Inflation Games
• 09/24/21: The most demonstrable political scandal still ignored
• 09/17/21: Sorry, AOC, The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share
• 09/02/21: Why Isn't Biden to Blame for COVID-19 Deaths?
• 08/06/21: Biden's Unprecedented Attack on the Constitution
• 07/30/21: Jan. 6 Was Deplorable. It Was NOT a Coup
• 06/21/21: The Myth of Republican Obstructionism
• 05/21/21: What Does Putin Have on Biden?
• 04/16/21: Kristen Clarke Is Unfit to Be in Government
• 03/26/21: No to DC Statehood is far from GOP being reflexive
• 03/22/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights The Hypocrisy of the Filibuster Busters
• 03/12/21: Biden Prepares to Strip College Students of Due Process Rights
• 03/05/21: AOC's Terrible Minimum Wage Argument
• 02/12/21: The Dem Party Is Radicalizing against the Constitution
• 02/05/21: What NOT to Do with Marjorie Taylor Greene
• 01/15/21: Free Speech Is a Value Not Just a Right
• 12/31/20: It Can't Get Any Worse Than 2020. Here's a 2021 Political Wish List
• 10/26/20: Wanted: An Honest Debate about the Death Penalty
• 10/26/20: These are the questions 'Big Guy' Biden must be forced to answer about Hunter's emails
• 09/11/20: The Dems' Dangerous Delegitimization of the Election
• 08/28/20: Biden Is Underperforming Hillary in Battleground States
• 08/14/20: Kamala Harris, Imaginary Centrist
• 07/24/20: Who you calling a fascist?
• 07/17/20: Speech Police have finally gone too far
• 07/03/20: 'But Gorsuch' Is Still Trump's Best Argument
• 06/22/20: Welcome to America's Cultural Revolution
• 06/12/20: The color of my skin is not an indictment of my morality, nor does it strip me of my agency
• 06/05/20: What this son of immigrants knows about bulding bussinesses --- and the dismay of destruction
• 05/28/20: The Folly of Twitter's Fact-Check
• 05/22/20: Dems Warning Trump Will Reject Election Results Should Look in the Mirror
• 05/15/20: Obamagate Is NOT a Conspiracy Theory
• 05/08/20: Really, Joe --- due process is the opposite of justice?