Richard Goldberg@rich_goldberg
Too many people are convinced the Trump administration is playing games with the language they use about their negotiating position. The lack of confidence in this President - the ultimate BS detector who can sniff out a bad deal when it’s presented - is astounding. Stop accusing the White House of playing games!
What kind of games? Here are examples of the conspiracy theories:
- Saying “enriched uranium” but not really meaning ALL enriched uranium. Maybe only 60%, not the 20% or low enriched uranium. But don’t you think the president will ask, can they still make a bomb with what’s being left behind?
- Saying enriched uranium may be shipped out to third countries or disposed of inside Iran, but this being code for caving to Iran’s position, JCPOA-style, with Iran shipping some to an ally while retaining a downblended stockpile. Don’t you think the president will ask questions like, can they even downblend inside Iran today, or if they did this would the remaining stockpile still constitute a threat, or isn’t this exactly like the JCPOA?
- Saying “no dust, no dollars” but getting cute by giving Iran permission to draw on escrowed accounts in Qatar and Oman to pay debts and imports, but without the money going back to Tehran. Don’t you think the president knows this was Sleepy Joe’s trick to give sanctions relief to Iran, that the $6 billion in Qatar was the horrible hostage ransom payment every Republican condemned, and that budget support - whether the money sits in Tehran or Doha - is paying an extortion racket upfront and reducing the likelihood he ever gets the nuclear dust?
- Saying no upfront sanctions relief from the United States while allowing Qatar or someone else to pay the ransom instead of us. As if the president has no clue that if anyone helps relive the pressure before he gets the nuclear dust, he will never get it?
I recognize that many in Washington have been burned a thousand times by these kind of games under Obama and Biden. I testified before House Oversight just before October 7 laying out this exact subterfuge on Iran. But my goodness, give this president some credit for killing bad Iran deal proposal after bad Iran deal proposal on Iran since his first term. Mediators can scheme all they want - this President gets briefed, perhaps after 50 leaks occurred from people with half a clue, and he is the ultimate BS detector.