(John Ransom, Headline USA) A former State Department advisor on Iran, Gabriel Noronha, is warning that the new deal being hammered out in Vienna by the Biden administration with Iran is even weaker than the much criticized Obama deal of 2015, that Trump dumped in 2018, in favor of tougher sanctions.
“They said they were going to get a longer, stronger deal. This deal will be shorter and weaker,” Noronha said about the new deal, according to CBN.
Meanwhile, one former Israeli national security official is warning about a rush to come to an agreement with Iran because of the backdrop of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which could make for a weaker deal so European nations can clear Iran off their checklist of troubles.
When U.S. officials told me what was inside the new Iran deal, I realized that Biden was not going back to the JCPOA.
His team negotiated an entirely different agreement. And as you can read for yourself here, it is much, much worse than the original.https://t.co/HZEZRn6mCs
— Gabriel Noronha (@GLNoronha) March 7, 2022
The official said that the Middle East is paying attention to American actions in Europe, and that’s not necessarily good.
“America’s allies in the Middle East are looking at the events in Europe and are drawing their conclusions, which are not necessarily good for America’s status in our region,” Meir Ben-Shabbat, a top aide to former prime minister Netanyahu, told the Times of Israel.
“The talks on the nuclear agreement [with Iran]– yes, specifically the talks – can provide the US the opportunity to fix this impression,” added Ben-Shabbat.
But Noronha warned that a favorable impression is not likely, as it looks like the agreement will provide a path for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, an eventuality that will greatly distress America’s allies in the region and could lead to nuclear war.
“Unfortunately, they’re not getting any of the sunsets on Iran’s nuclear restrictions lifted or extended. And so, in only nine years Iran will have a clear path to a nuclear weapon,” said Noronha via CBN.
“The American people need to know that this deal is illegal. It is dangerous to American national security. It’s dangerous to the regional and global security in both in the short term and in the long term,” added Noronha.
In the short term, however, Noronha warned in an op-ed at the Tablet that an agreement contemplated by the Biden administration could up the risk of Islamic terror funded by the Iranian regime once the agreement is signed.
“Instead of demanding that the Iranians cease conducting and supporting terrorism, [US Special Envoy Robert] Malley obliged repeated Iranian entreaties to remove the IRGC’s terror designation,” wrote Noronha, thus allowing Iran to get back into the terror business.