Biden Must Reverse Course on Letting Iran Sanctions Lapse — or Watch Weapons Pour into Gaza and Russia; Biden is Being Played by Hamas, Iran and Qatar — with American and Israeli Lives at Stake

Biden must reverse course on letting Iran sanctions lapse — or watch weapons pour into Gaza and Russia:

Washington and its European allies just declined to prevent the expiration of UN missile and drone penalties against Iran.

That decision will likely spur more missile and drone testing, production and proliferation by Tehran — with direct implications for arming terrorist groups attacking Israel and Russia’s ability to wage war against Ukraine.

The Biden administration must rectify this own-goal and work with Europe to restore these critical embargoes.

UN Security Council Resolution 2231, which enshrined the 2015 Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, contained a series of proliferation-related penalties and restrictions designed to lapse Oct. 18, 2023, a date both the resolution and JCPOA refer to as “Transition Day.”

Iran may now “legally” test or transfer ballistic missiles, in addition to importing and exporting platforms like drones and technologies that, per UNSCR 2231, “could contribute to the development of nuclear weapon delivery systems.”

And 84 Iranian entities and individuals tied to Tehran’s nuclear and missile programs were freed from UN sanctions lists.

Despite the JCPOA’s two most important participants — Washington and Tehran — no longer adhering to the deal, the UN resolution remains in effect, which means the schedule for lapsing restrictions remains on autopilot.

Predictably, Iranian officials and government organs are gloating over their newfound freedom from UN restrictions.

Any “JCPOA participant state” — such as the United Kingdom, France or Germany — could have prevented the end of international prohibitions by triggering a UN Security Council 30-day process colloquially known as “snapback.”

The move would restore all UN sanctions that existed from 2006 to 2015, including the conventional-arms embargo that lapsed in 2020. —>READ MORE HERE

Biden is being played by Hamas, Iran and Qatar — with American and Israeli lives at stake:

Despite telling the world Hamas is evil, President Joe Biden is pursuing policies of appeasement toward the terrorist group’s two largest patrons and, in so doing, undermining American and Israeli deterrence.

To secure the release of hostages, enable an Israeli victory over Hamas and hold off a Hezbollah assault on Israel’s northern border, Washington must first put the squeeze on Iran and Qatar.

While Biden Thursday night promised the American people we would hold Iran accountable for its sponsorship of Hamas, the mullahs in Tehran do not today perceive any credible threat of coercion from the United States.

Quite the opposite, in fact.

The Biden administration entered an unacknowledged nuclear arrangement with Iran over the summer, offering upwards of $50 billion for Tehran to delay production of weapons-grade uranium.

That agreement still holds, with billions of dollars available for Iran’s use in Iraq-, Oman- and Qatar-based bank accounts — and billions more generated through oil exports to China.

Indeed, the same day Biden visited Israel this week, he allowed the United Nations missile embargo on Iran to expire.

Nothing prevents the White House from working with the United Kingdom, France and Germany to trigger the “snapback” of all UN sanctions on Iran — something that requires a simple letter to the Security Council and that neither Russia nor China has the power to block.

There are only two reasons the president would oppose restoring all UN sanctions on Iran: He is afraid of Iranian escalation in response, or he wants to leave the door open to future dealmaking.

Either way, Tehran rightly perceives American weakness and fear of escalation — which is one way to guarantee Iranian escalation. —>READ MORE HERE

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