Special to WorldTribune.com

The nuclear deal signed between Iran and world powers is not an agreement or a contract, according to the founder of the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).

The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is merely a “set of understandings and disputes compiled into a single document,” Yigal Carmon wrote on Oct. 30.

“For example, the JCPOA states that in the event of Iranian violations, sanctions will be re-imposed (snapback). However, the Iranian position, which rejects all sanctions, is incorporated in the same document. In outlining the snapback of the sanctions, Article 37 also stipulates: ‘Iran has stated that if sanctions are reinstated in whole or in part, Iran will treat that as grounds to cease performing its commitments under this JCPOA in whole or in part.’ ”

Carmon said the JCPOA is not a contract as Teheran would never have signed such a document with the “the Great Satan” – the United States.

“Likewise, it would not have signed any contract with any other party to the negotiations, since it views the sanctions imposed on it by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolutions and by EU and IAEA reports as grievous injustice. By signing such an agreement, it would retroactively legitimize these wrongs done to it.”

Teheran primarily agreed to the nuclear negotiations to get international sanctions lifted, as Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said on several occasions, Carmon notes.

“Now the big secret is out. Khamenei has not approved the JCPOA. And those who pretend that it has been approved – President (Hassan) Rohani, Foreign Minister and negotiator (Mohammad) Javad Zarif, and their associates – have been on borrowed time. While they could lie to the West, to President Obama, to Secretary of State Kerry, and to the EU foreign ministers that they can move ahead, they always knew that Khamenei opposed the JCPOA. Now, at the moment of truth, they feared to proceed.”

Khamenei gave the nod for Iran’s negotiators to enter the talks to see what Teheran could get out of the deal at no cost to the Islamic Republic, Carmon said.

“It was well known that President Obama was dying for an agreement. But once Khamenei knew that President Obama is standing firm on the last fragment of the original U.S. position, either unwilling or unable to capitulate any further, Khamenei broke his silence. Stepping in in the final act, Khamenei, deus-ex-machina style, dictated, in a letter to President Rohani, nine new conditions for the JCPOA, and declared that if these were not met Iran would stop the agreement.”

Carmon noted that Khamenei’s letter granted only “conditional approval” of the deal, a fact that was lost on Western press.

“It was labeled thus in red letters, as posted on Khamenei’s website in Persian, tweeted from his Twitter account and posted on his Facebook page in English, and also published in English by the official Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting authority IRIB,” Carmon wrote.

“And what is President Obama to do, as everything he has stood for in the Iran deal collapses so ignominiously? On the right, they say he will continue to capitulate. In their ignorance, and in their hatred of him, they fail to realize that he can simply surrender no farther. OK, they say, so the IAEA will provide Obama with the necessary confirmation by December 15 that the Iranians have done their part. But that is impossible as well. What is demanded of Iran is gargantuan in scale, and it would be far more difficult for the IAEA to fake confirmation when the Iranians themselves are declaring loudly that they are not going to do it.

“With every passing day, Iran is more and more in violation of the JCPOA. But neither the Republicans nor the Democrats, nor the media, nor anyone else will acknowledge this, for the implications are too devastating. The agreement is no longer in effect. Its clock has stopped.
But the weeks will pass, and the media and politicians will be forced to admit that this is the case. And the last thing they will be willing to do is to force Iran to meet its obligations. Thus, it appears that President Obama’s only option, shameful as it is, is to restart the negotiations with the Iranians and talk with them about their leaders’ new conditions. As is well-known, this administration advocates diplomacy – guaranteeing that there will be no breakthrough any time soon.

“This is precisely what will serve President Obama best. All he needs to do is play for time and reach the end of his term with an agreement in hand – albeit virtual – and negotiations in progress – albeit unending. He will pass this situation on to the next administration. The success will be all his, and the failure will be all theirs. The media will zealously guard Obama’s legacy, and his successor, Republican or Democrat, will be too uninformed to protect him or herself from this historic maneuver. And it will serve them right.”

Meanwhile, Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade announced on Oct. 31 a blockade on American consumer goods.

Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh said the plan is in line with the “requirements” which Khamenei notified Rouhani of in order to develop an “economy of resistance” and block imports of U.S.-made goods.

Coca-Cola and Pepsi have local bottlers and distributors in Iran, but they claim to have nothing to do with the American brands.

In October, the U.S. reportedly approved exports of soft drinks to Iran, putting an end to a ban which had been in place since 1990s.

Iran also said it had launched a campaign to stop the flow of bootleg U.S. cigarettes to the Islamic Republic. Some 6-7 billion Marlboro cigarettes, made by Philip Morris USA, are smoked in Iran annually, the ISNA news agency reported.

  Bad joke: The Iran nuclear deal is mainly an agreement to disagree, JCPOA, MEMRI, WorldTribune.com, Yigal Carmon