US Must Stop Nuke-Seeking Iran from Becoming Another North Korea

Last week, the U.S. State Department re-certified Iran has met the four conditions required by the 2015 Corker-Cardin legislation, regarding the Iranian nuclear deal, i.e., the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). However, the administration did not certify that Iran is fully complying with the nuclear deal.

This is unquestionably true. The Iranians have by no means lived up to the letter of the deal.

This fact is clearly detailed by four U.S. Senators, whose recent letter to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson argued Iran has consistently failed to fulfill its obligations under the JCPOA.

Their letter notes:

1. Iran is operating more advanced nuclear centrifuges than it is supposed to;

2. Iran has repeatedly exceeded the limits the JCPOA places on its heavy water stocks, and sells the surplus heavy water for profit;

3. Iran is illegally trying to procure nuclear and missile technology outside of JCPOA-approved channels;

4. Iran is refusing to grant international inspectors access to military facilities in Iran.

In addition, Iran has also violated the spirit of the deal, by its continuing aggression and/or bad actions directed towards the U.S. and other nations. Iran just grabbed another American hostage, now holding a total of eight; it continues to verbally threaten war against the U.S.; continues to destroy and conquer its neighbors; and continues to be the world’s biggest state sponsor of terrorism.

Iran also continues to work on its intercontinental ballistic missiles. We all know that there is just one reason for an intercontinental ballistic missile; it is to attach a nuclear warhead to it and travel across continents to deliver it.

Clearly, the theocratic regime in Iran is preparing to produce nuclear weapons, despite the deal. Whether Iran will continue to cheat on the deal, or cease cheating and just wait out the JCPOA, so it is able to win international consent for its nuclear program, is immaterial.

What is most disturbing about this situation is the sense of déjà vu the U.S. should be experiencing. This situation with Iran is shockingly similar to what happened in the past between the U.S. and the communist dictatorship of North Korea.

During the Clinton administration, Wendy Sherman, and other officials who would later work on the JCPOA, negotiated and agreed to a comparable deal with the North Koreans.

The deal gave hundreds of millions of dollars of food and oil to North Korea in return for its promises to stop developing nuclear weapons. But it didn’t work. During the George W. Bush administration, North Korea revealed its nuclear weapons, which it had illegally been working on despite the agreement. Since the Bush administration, North Korea has been developing its intercontinental ballistic missiles. On July 4 of this year, the North Koreans launched the Hwasong-14. The unstable North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-Un, said the ICBM was “a gift for the American bastards” as they celebrated July 4, and North Koreans should “frequently send big and small ‘gift packages’ to the Yankees” in the form of yet more missile and nuclear tests. As always, Kim hopes to intimidate the U.S. and the Europeans into providing him with more cash to keep his bankrupt dictatorship afloat.

We are heading in the same direction when it comes to Iran. All this is simply a matter of time.

The question becomes: will the U.S. learn from its past mistake with North Korea, and stop the Iranian mullahs before they go nuclear?

We certainly should. Iran is far more threatening than the unbelievably dangerous North Koreans. The mullahs of Iran, unlike the atheist dictator of North Korea, strongly believe that Iran has a role to play in bringing back the Mahdi, the Messiah of Shia Islam. If Iran initiates a nuclear war, perhaps against the infidel Americans, they won’t need intercontinental missiles for Israel or Saudi Arabia — a Shia Muslim heaven on Earth would be created. The leaders of Iran would then be richly rewarded for their actions by Allah.

Even if the Iranians chose not to initiate Armageddon, they could still use their nuclear power to demand Western bribes, as North Korea does, or to protect themselves from counterattack when they implement more terror attacks, or to send their proxy armies in Iraq, Syria, Yemen, etc. into war with the West, the Sunni Arab states, or Israel.

This disastrous Iran deal cannot be allowed to stand. It is dangerous to the national security of the U.S., and our allies. The Trump administration must be prepared to act, whether it be implementing new sanctions, playing hardball with the Europeans to gain their acquiescence, or even threatening, and if necessary, launching, military actions against the Iranian regime.

There is no more time to waste.

Originally published at Newsmax: http://www.newsmax.com/AdamTurner/iran-north-korea-nuclear-weapon-jcpoa/2017/07/25/id/803667/

Photo credit: AFP PHOTO/KCNA VIA KNS STR/AFP/Getty Images