NEW YORK, July 14, 2015 — The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) is deeply horrified, but not surprised, by the truly terrible nuclear agreement that has been signed by the P5 +1 nations (the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, including the United States, plus Germany) and the radical Islamic Iranian regime. This agreement will provide nuclear weapons and hundreds of billions of dollars to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Hitler of the Mideast, and to Iran, the Nazi Germany of the Middle East. Only last Friday, Khamenei and Iranian President Hasan Rouhani, appeared at the latest of a series of regular rallies calling for destruction of the U.S. and Israel.
The ZOA National President Morton A. Klein has issued the following statement:
“The nuclear agreement concluded in Vienna is quite simply a catastrophe and a nightmare. It leaves the world standing at an abyss.
“Everything in the past two years has pointed to precisely such a deal, which leaves Iran with its nuclear weapons program and infrastructure intact, while additionally shredding the international sanctions regime upon Tehran. The deal infuses the Iranian economy with hundreds of billions of dollars through the unfreezing of assets and sanctions relief. Moreover, this deal will terminate personal sanctions against senior Iranian military commanders who have been sanctioned for their responsibility in the murder hundreds of Americans in Iraq.
“From the point of view of American security, this deal makes no sense. Today, it is estimated that Iran could become a nuclear break-out state in three months. Why, then, did President Obama agree to a deal that gives Iran tens of billions of dollars and the capacity in just 13 years, to have an immediate break-out to nuclear weapons — assuming that Iran even abides by the agreement?
“Two years ago, the Iranian economy was collapsing under the weight of sanctions. President Obama could have intensified pressure and international resolve to compel Iran to relinquish its nuclear program. He never even tried. Instead, he preemptively relieved the pressure on Iran by easing sanctions which enabled Iran to withstand every demand. As a result, we now stand on the precipice of an era of nuclear terror.
“This agreement, as we long foretold and expected, does not dismantle any element of Iran’s nuclear weapons infrastructure — its existing nuclear research and development programs, its thousands of centrifuges, its nuclear facilities (known and unknown), its enriched uranium stocks, its Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM).
“This agreement contradicts every substantive assurance President Obama and his Administration gave on stopping Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
President Obama dropped the demand that Iran dismantle its thousands of centrifuges.
President Obama dropped the demand that Iran shutter its plutonium facility at Arak — a facility not required by any conceivable peaceful nuclear energy program.
President Obama dropped the demand that Iran shutter its underground nuclear facility at Fordow.
President Obama dropped the demand that Iran fully account for the military dimensions of its past clandestine nuclear research and development programs.
President Obama dropped his insistence that non-nuclear sanctions imposed on Iran for its role in international terrorism and abuses of human rights would remain firmly in place. Instead, he has redefined all sanctions on Iran as being essentially nuclear-related in order to lift them. Not only that, but it appears now that arms embargoes on Iran will be lifted within five years, enabling this already dangerous regional power to become still more menacing and aggressive.
“As a result of this extraordinary chain of appeasement, this nuclear deal signed in Vienna today will deliver the path to nuclear weapons to Iran, the Nazi Germany of the Middle East. Worse, it is illusory that sanctions can be ‘snapped back’ if Iran violates the agreement. The U.S. will not make that determination — instead, a committee that includes Iran will. Can one imagine Russia or China, which stand to gain huge economic advantages from the easing of sanctions, agreeing to reimpose sanctions?
“Moreover, does Iranian behavior to date suggest we have any reason to trust in Tehran’s honesty and commitment to this agreement? Just recently, Iran attempted to evade sanctions and import a shipment of nuclear compressors compatible with its nuclear program. It has also attempted to procure nuclear material through black-listed firms. That is what Iran does now, before an agreement and when it is bound by sanctions. Who believes that Iran will be more law-abiding and careful once sanctions have been lifted?
“The radical Shia Iranian regime is already the biggest supporter, sponsor and facilitator of radical Islamic terrorism. This deal will result in the freeing up of $150 billion in frozen Iranian assets and will also result in tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief for Iran each year.
“With this stupendous windfall, Iran will dramatically increase its funding for radical Islamic terror groups, especially for Hezbollah and Hamas. Only last month, Iran gave Hamas tens of millions of dollars and provided Hezbollah with tens of thousands of missiles to use against Israel. Both of these terror groups, committed to Israel’s destruction and the the murder of Jews, can be expected to receive literally tens of thousands of new missiles to target Israel in the months and years ahead.
“This deal was struck at the very same time Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and President Hasan Rouhani have been leading rallies calling for death to America and Israel. Indeed, billboards all over Iran proclaim ‘Death to America.’ Iranian television regularly broadcasts simulations of nuclear attacks on Israel and strikes upon U.S. carriers in the region. Indeed, the preamble to the Iranian Constitution itself declares the hope that Iran witness the establishment of universal “holy” government and downfall of all others. Yet, President Obama ignored all this, even after Iranian leaders stated that, even after this deal is signed, the U.S. remains the number one enemy of Iran.
“Worse, the normal calculus of deterrence, such as prevented the Cold War with the Soviet Union turning hot, does not apply here. As the doyen of Middle Eastern historians, Bernard Lewis, has put it, “MAD, mutual assured destruction … will not work with a religious fanatic. For him, mutual assured destruction is not a deterrent, it is an inducement.”
“In the past year alone, Iranian officials have called for Israel’s destruction. Only this past week, former Iranian President Hashemi Rafsanjani — who has been often described as a ‘moderate’ — declared that Israel is an ‘alien forged existence that … will be wiped off the map.’ In January, the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, General Ali Jafari, said that, ‘The Quds [Jerusalem] occupying regime is making its last moves and it knows that it is nearing its end.’ Last July, Ayatollah Khamenei himself said, ‘There are logical and practical means to [destroying Israel]… Israel’s annihilation is the only real cure.’
“How remarkable that President Obama has consistently ignored repeated Iranian statements about destroying the U.S. and Israel — while fixating on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s entirely realistic statement that a Palestinian state cannot be established under prevailing conditions.
“Disturbingly, this fits a long pattern of President Obama hampering efforts to combat radical Islam — a term he and his Administration refuse to even use — while favoring radical Islamic movements and regimes, as we have recently noted in detail in a press release listing 33 such examples.
“If there was ever a time for public protest calling upon your Member of Congress, that time time is surely now. (You can reach all U.S. Senators & Members of Congress through the Capitol Hill Switchboard: 202-224-3121). Urge your Member of Congress to oppose this nuclear deal and to support Israel if, as a result of this agreement, it decides at some point that it must undertake military action to stop Iran becoming a nuclear power.”