Cal Thomas: Iran’s freeze play

MYRNA BROWN, HOST: Today is Thursday, April 24th. Good morning! This is The World and Everything in It from listener-supported WORLD Radio. I’m Myrna Brown.

MARY REICHARD, HOST: And I’m Mary Reichard. WORLD commentator Cal Thomas has a warning for the White House: when it comes to Iran, any deal is likely to be a bad one.

CAL THOMAS: Before basketball’s 24-second rule, there was a tactic called freezing the ball. The team that was ahead would attempt to run out the clock by holding onto the ball as long as it could to deny the opposing team an opportunity to score.

That looks like what Iran is doing…again. “Freezing” negotiations while finishing the final stages of nuclear enrichment—on the way to building a deliverable nuclear weapon.

It is important for the U.S. to take Iranian leaders at their word. Failing to do so guarantees the world will be faced with the greatest threat since the beginning of the Cold War with a nuclear-armed Soviet Union. Except the Soviets were atheists. The Iranian mullahs think doing what they claim to be Allah’s will. Especially if it leads to martyrdom as they believe that guarantees them a ticket to Heaven.

The West has a history of not taking seriously the announced intentions of its enemies. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publicly stated their economic and political goals. Those were fulfilled in the Bolshevik Revolution and the imposition of communism and socialism in Russia.

Adolf Hitler wrote “Mein Kampf”—or “My Struggle”—in which he stated his hatred of Jews. A hatred incorporated in the Third Reich, which led to the Holocaust.

In each instance there were Western academics, journalists, even clergy, who excused, denied or rationalized these objectives. And in each instance millions of lives were lost. Many in forced famine and gulags under Stalin. Still more in World War II launched by Hitler.

Past deals with Iran have been violated—including initially agreed inspections by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the UN. Why does anyone believe the Iranians will abide by a new agreement?

Writing for the publication JNS.org, New York attorney Eric Levine criticizes an April 14th op-ed in The Wall Street Journal by former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry. In it, Levine describes what Kerry’s so-called “good deal” looks like between the US and Iran. Levine underscores that any deal with Iran must not bear—in his words—any “resemblance to the disaster that [John Kerry] and then-President Barack Obama forced down the throats of Americans in 2015, despite overwhelming bipartisan opposition.”

President Trump has long criticized the ten-year old deal. Yet Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff has no experience dealing with people who claim a religious motivation for their actions. He is no more likely to succeed with Iran than Kerry and Obama who got rolled by the mullahs.

President Trump’s former national security adviser John Bolton wrote this for the publication Independent Arabia: “Washington has every justification to take military action against Tehran’s proliferation efforts. Iran’s nuclear threat is not a problem merely for Israel, but for the entire world. For thirty years, the ayatollahs have sought to become a nuclear power, to the detriment of everyone else. America has the wherewithal to eliminate this proliferation threat, and would be politically and morally justified in doing so. Helping Israel de-fang Iran follows quite logically.”

Iran is in a weak position, domestically and internationally. Regime change would be the best option, but the rulers are unlikely to willingly relinquish power. The time to strike Iranian nuclear facilities is now. Delay means we will likely have to face a nuclear armed Iran with the ability to launch ICBMs at Israel and American cities. That’s not a risk worth taking.

I’m Cal Thomas

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