Quote (Goomshill @ May 8 2018 02:21pm)

what are those concessions?
Iran was under threat of getting blown to smithereens if it pursued its nuclear development. Under the deal it could rapidly assemble a bomb after 2025 with a decade of preparation to set up the infrastructure to create the facilities and enrichment they weren't allowed. In exchange, we stopped pooping on their oil industry and as a result their elites and theocrats/oligarchs are turning into real counterparts to the saudi princes. Thats besides the cash we flew them.

From Iran's perspective, pursuing their nuclear agenda prior to 2015 was a treacherous path. They knew that Israel hung over them like a sword of damocles. Mossad was all too willing to assassinate scientists and America would bugger their infrastructure with stuxnet and everyone was on the edge of outright bombing Iran. They didn't have the protection of a neighboring China to enable their safety like the DPRK did. But with the Iran Deal, they've essentially been given a safe path to a nuclear weapon, just after a decade of delay. Thats all Obama really bought, a few years. They weren't allowed to enrich weapons grade uranium or manufacture the components, but they were allowed to make the infrastructure that would let them rapidly enrich uranium, make the detonators, and as Trump pointed out- totally free to pursue missile tech. What would happen when 2025 rolls around? We'd have a nuclear Iran anyway, and a nuclear Saudi Arabia, and soon a nuclear Qatar and nuclear UAE.

For Iran it was really kind of a win-win. They got to hoard ridiculous amounts of money and got to pursue their long term goals of nuclear development to ensure their existence and emergence as a world power. All by kicking the can down the road a few years.
Is a return to uncertainty better than a bad certainty?

Quote (IceMage @ May 8 2018 01:54pm)

@bold: Not sure how that's true. The deal blocks them from getting a nuke for at least 10 years, and if we can't negotiate an extension years in the future, the military option is always on the table. You're making the assumption that there's nothing we can do before/after the deal ends to ensure they don't get nukes. I also don't know why you assume America wouldn't be able to discourage the Saudis from pursuing nukes. Are they rushing towards a nuclear weapon right now?

So now after giving them those pallets of cash, and realizing that many of the sanctions won't be coming back, Iran is free to pursue a nuclear weapon. Hopefully we can let Israelis be the meat shields in this upcoming military conflict.

Quote (IceMage @ May 8 2018 01:54pm)

@bold: Not sure how that's true. The deal blocks them from getting a nuke for at least 10 years, and if we can't negotiate an extension years in the future, the military option is always on the table. You're making the assumption that there's nothing we can do before/after the deal ends to ensure they don't get nukes. I also don't know why you assume America wouldn't be able to discourage the Saudis from pursuing nukes. Are they rushing towards a nuclear weapon right now?

So now after giving them those pallets of cash, and realizing that many of the sanctions won't be coming back, Iran is free to pursue a nuclear weapon. Hopefully we can let Israelis be the meat shields in this upcoming military conflict.

Quote (JohnMiller92 @ May 8 2018 03:09pm)

Quote (Thor123422 @ May 8 2018 01:55pm)

No money actually left our treasury, we just gave them back money that was rightfully theirs to begin with.

Quote (Goomshill @ May 8 2018 03:16pm)

the money came out of the judgement fund which is set aside for lawsuits against the government.
It came right from the taxpayers, using that tortured legal argument to try to circumvent the lack of congressional support and therefore zero appropriations given.

I think its worth taking the time to appreciate just how much this sidestepped the checks and balances. The Iran deal was a pseudotreaty which was not ratified by congress, so instead wrapped up as a non-binding political commitment. The judgment fund is there only to pay legal settlements- the Iran Deal was not a judicial order. The 1982 claim they filed over frozen assets was tallied at $600 million in 1990 and repaid with a settlement of $200 million. To reach the $1.7B figure, Obama had to argue that the extra $400 million which wasn't placed in an interest earning account should be worth an extra settlement of $1.3 billion in unearned interest. Only $400 million was in the original settlement account from the US-Iran frozen assets, the $1.3 billion came from taxpayers. And since the Judgement Fund by law is capped at payouts of less than $100 million, they laundered it by paying 13 claims of $99,999,999.99 and one claim of $10,390,362.28. Which were then shipped on muh wooden pallets in euros from the dutch and flown into tehran so dramatically.