Gerson: Obama’s Iran Policy is Self-Destructive Incompetence

Michael Gerson, a former aide to President George W. Bush and one of my favorite Washington Post columnists, gave the best description yet of President Obama’s disastrous nuclear diplomacy in an op-ed today when he wrote that “It has become hard to deny that the rollout of the Lausanne framework is a first-rate debacle — a dazzling display of self-destructive incompetence.”

Gerson was referring to the framework “agreement” announced by President Obama in a speech on April 2nd which he depicted as a great diplomatic victory for his foreign policy that will lead to a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran by the end of June.  The president’s speech and a fact sheet released by the State Department gave details of what would be in a final agreement, including tough provisions for verification and lifting sanctions against Iran.

Despite the Obama administration’s victory dance over the framework agreement, it is now clear there is no agreement.  No document on the framework accord agreed to by all sides was released.  Iranian officials denounced the President’s statement and the U.S. fact sheet as lies.  Gerson asks “Who proposed that the State Department issue an interpretive fact sheet before the deal was actually sealed? The Iranian negotiators were bound to feel ambushed.”   He also noted that Iran is disputing Obama administration claims in at three crucial areas: past nuclear weapons research and development, the timing of sanctions relief and the agreement’s verification mechanisms.

According to Gerson, “the administration’s high-profile announcement of an embryonic nuclear deal has already had the practical effect of undermining the isolation of Iran,” resulting in the sale of S-300 surface to air missiles by Russia to Iran.  Gerson also said there are reports of French and Chinese oil companies exploring deals with Iran.

Gerson gives two possible explanations for the Obama administration’s apparently false account of the non-existent framework agreement.  First,  just like the way Obama officials declared the Bergdahl trade for five Taliban commanders as a national triumph, this could be another occasion where the administration is so anxious to score political points that it is incapable of acting with restraint.

Second, this may be a ploy by the president to back congressional opponents into a corner by setting up a false choice between the concessions his administration has made to Iran to get a nuclear deal and war.

I agree with both of these explanations but I would put the second one slightly differently.  I believe the sole purpose of the Obama administration’s account of the framework was to convince Congress not to pass new sanctions against Iran.  It tried to do this by making false and misleading statements about what Iran had agreed to.

Gerson correctly says this amounts to self-destructive incompetence by the Obama administration.  I would add that it also constitutes national security fraud.