The Rollback of Iranian Sanctions

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The Rollback of Iranian Sanctions

‘The architecture of the sanctions regime is crumbling.’

As the next round of talks begin between Iran and the P5+1 nations over Iran’s disputed nuclear program, the corrosive effects of the first deal are only now starting to show their results on the sanctions platform upon which the international community stands. The structure is collapsing, and Iran is ready to capitalize.

On November 24, the P5+1 nations signed a six-month deal with Iran at the end of the first round of Geneva negotiations. Following the signing, President Barack Obama announced:

The United States and our friends and allies have agreed to provide Iran with modest relief, while continuing to apply our toughest sanctions. We will refrain from imposing new sanctions, and we will allow the Iranian government access to a portion of the revenue that they have been denied through sanctions. But the broader architecture of sanctions will remain in place and we will continue to enforce them vigorously.

In a Wall Street Journal article, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David Cohen went further, reassuring the world by saying:

As the principal U.S. official charged with crafting and enforcing our sanctions program, I am confident that the sanctions pressure on Iran will continue to mount. Iran will be even deeper in the hole six months from now, when the deal expires, than it is today.

Another White House official from the office of the press secretary said that “the relief that Iran gets under this agreement is insignificant economically. The total maximum value of this deal … is about $6 billion to $7 billion.”

And finally, just to make sure that the entire world believed that the sanctions relief wasn’t going to help Iran whatsoever, the same official stated that “Iran’s oil exports will remain steady at their current level of around 1 million barrels per day.”

To sum up Washington’s dreams for Iran, we could say that President Obama believes that in six months, Iran’s economy will be more desperate, the sanctions relief we gave them won’t have saved them, and Iran’s exports will not have changed.

Does anyone really believe this?

Look at what has happened to Iran’s oil exports since the deal was signed. Iran’s crude oil exports have swollen to 1.32 million barrels per day, surpassing December’s high of 1.06 million barrels. From October to January, exports increased 60 percent! The Obama administration was sure that the exports wouldn’t rise above 1 million barrels per day, but each and every day, Iran is producing 320,000 barrels full of proof to the contrary!

Former U.S. ambassador to the UN and current ceo of United Against Nuclear Iran (uani) Mark Wallace explained at a subcommittee hearing on theImplementation of the Iran Nuclear Deal” just how one-sided the Geneva agreement is. “As Foreign Minister Zarif and President Rouhani have become the toast of diplomatic and business circles, it has become increasingly clear that the Joint Plan is disproportionally in Iran’s favor,” said Wallace. “Iran has not rolled back its nuclear infrastructure …. At the same time, the carefully constructed sanctions architecture developed over decades has been significantly rolled back.”

He went on to explain how the Iranian currency, the rial, has bounced back 25 percent since Rouhani’s election, the Tehran Stock Exchange index has increased almost 100 percent, and inflation is steadily falling. There is no sign of anything but resurgence for the Iranian economy!

How could Washington have so poorly evaluated the significance of giving Iran sanctions relief? It seems hard to imagine that Washington overlooked these consequences of easing sanctions. The truth is that the current U.S. administration is in favor of an empowered Iran. (Read America Under Attack for more on this subject.)

When sanctions were lifted, the floodgates of oil opened in Iran and the river immediately flowed east. Ever since Iran’s oil industry started feeling the benefits of sanctions relief, oil-hungry nations such as China, India and Japan have been drinking up the black gold. Washington said this would give Iran no more than $7 billion profit. Wallace believes the sanctions relief far surpasses these estimates. “The true value of the sanctions relief is well more than $20 billion when accounting for the full macroeconomic picture in Iran.”

Iran’s immediate future seems paved with a resurgent economy, a well-maintained nuclear program and a thriving oil market. Beyond 2014, Iranian oil production looks likely to expand even further. India has announced that it plans to purchase oil exclusively from Tehran through 2015. Even if Europe and the U.S. never drop sanctions on Iranian oil, Tehran looks to have plenty of buyers for its oil in the East.

Everything that the Obama administration promised with the Joint Plan seemed to take a diametrically opposite route. Modest relief turned out to be life-saving relief. A weaker Iran at the end of the six-month deal? Not this time. The attempt to stop Iran from obtaining nukes seems destined for complete failure as Iran’s economy rockets to heights unseen in years. Iran’s oil production remaining at 1 million barrels per day was a lie, or at best, another obvious oversight. Iran is producing 320,000 barrels more than that every day.

And the ultimate failure that results from relieving sanctions? As Wallace stated, “Six months from now, we [uani] believe there will be far less pressure for Iran to actually make material concessions on its nuclear program.” When it comes time for Iran to start negotiating again, it will be in a stronger position than it was last time.

Think about that! During the first talks, Iran was under heavy sanctions, yet it still came away with the deal of the century! Negotiations began again on February 18. How much more secure will Iran be in its negotiating position now that it has felt the benefits of sanctions relief. What can the P5+1 nations hope to achieve at this point?

The one trend we can expect is what the U.S. has displayed throughout the negotiating process: Every decision has led to a stronger Iran. Watch for the upcoming negotiations to only lead to more power for the Iranians, more promises of tough measures against Tehran by Washington, and ultimately more steps down the road to a nuclear Iran.

The “sanctions regime” against Iran is being corroded by negotiations, and it is about to fall. The more it decays, the more people are waking up to the fact that relieving sanctions weakens the international community, while empowering Iran.

As many wake up to the horrifying ramifications of easing sanctions on Iran, one source warned decades ago where Iran was headed. It warned what the Geneva Deal would entail, and it still warns what Iran is about to do.

That source is theTrumpet.com. The Trumpet archives are full of news articles that highlight the advancement of Bible prophecy. For instance, take what you have just read: The sanctions relief has taken Iran from the brink of collapse and placed it on the fast track to nuclear-armed dominance of the Middle East, which is part of the fulfillment of Daniel 11:40. This prophecy mentions the king of the south, a short-lived power that will dominate a number of Middle Eastern nations, but will quickly be put down by another, more sinister world power. This is explained thoroughly in our booklet The King of the South.

Be sure to stay up-to-date with the articles posted on theTrumpet.com. They will make plain the news events you see occurring around the globe—events that are tied directly to the prophecies in your Bible.