OBAMA'S IRAN PLAN – READ WITH BOTH EYES – AT 9:56 A.M. ET:  Why do I sense I'm hearing doubletalk?  From ace defense reporter Josh Rogin, at Bloomberg: 

Top Obama administration officials have released new details about how they would lift most sanctions against Iran. Those are unnerving some experts, who doubt the administration’s claims about the sanctions will hold up.

In speeches last week to a conference at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Vice President Joe Biden revealed new details about the end of most sanctions against Iran if a nuclear deal is reached. The officials also claimed that most of the sanctions, including multilateral sanctions, could be snapped back into place if Iran cheated, and they argued that giving Iran tens of billions of dollars in cash won’t dramatically increase Iran’s spending on terrorism and other nefarious activities.

COMMENT:  Is he serious?  Sanctions cannot work without international cooperation.  Once they're lifted, Western companies will benefit.  It will be very difficult to put those sanctions back in place if Iran cheats because jobs will be lost.  No leader wants to explain that to his or her people.

Lew spoke to a private meeting of Washington Institute members last Wednesday, after which Treasury posted his remarks. He said that President Obama planned to use his own authority to suspend sanctions against Iran’s oil, banking and trade sectors after Iran complied with the initial parts of the deal and that Congress wouldn’t actually be asked to lift sanctions during his presidency.

“Only after many years of compliance would we ask Congress to vote to terminate sanctions, and only Congress can terminate legislative sanctions,” he said.

Lew said this suspension, rather than a legislative repeal of sanctions, would allow the administration to quickly reinstate U.S. sanctions if Iran is caught cheating. He also said that United Nations sanctions would be able to snap back easily and no single nation would be able to stop that.

COMMENT:  That sounds like pie in the sky to me.  And the concept of "if Iran cheats" is phony at best.  Who verifies that?  Who announces it to Congress?  Where would we get the information?  Does anyone seriously believe that Obama would rush to Congress and inform the members that Iran is cheating?  The Iran deal is the crowning glory of his presidency.

I'm afraid Bibi was right when he told Congress that the deal under discussion would lead to an Iranian nuclear weapon.  But, by that time, Obama will be gone, and will probably be secretary-general of the UN.

May 5, 2015