Iran and Obama -- the Deal Gets Ever More Sordid

Are we surprised that Iran has discovered a new big reserve of uranium and will soon begin extracting it at the mine in Yazd province. The head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization reported this on Saturday. The news contradicts prior evaluations by western analysts who said Iran would need to import uranium for use in its nuclear program. Some western analysts had said that Iran was close to exhausting its raw uranium supply and that mining it domestically was not cost-efficient. A 2013 report by the US Carnegie Endowment and the Federation of American Scientists said the scarcity and low quality of Iran's uranium resources forced it "to rely on external sources of natural and processed uranium...Despite the Iranian leaders' assertions to the contrary, Iran's estimated uranium endowments are nowhere near sufficient to supply its planned nuclear program." Now, the idea that Iran could become self-sufficient will gnaw at world powers that signed the nuclear deal with Iran -- a deal opposed by a large majority of Americans but approved by the US by means of a Democratic filibuster preventing a Senate vote earlier this month. ~~~~~ Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi told state news agency IRNA : "I cannot announce (the level of) Iran's uranium mine reserves. The important thing is that before aerial prospecting for uranium ores, we were not too optimistic, but the new discoveries have made us confident about our reserves." Salehi said aerial uranium exploration had covered two-thirds of Iran and would be complete before 2020. Uranium can be used for energy production and scientific purposes, but is also essential for nuclear weapons. US State Department spokesman John Kirby said any new Iranian reserves of uranium will be under the same monitoring as existing mines under the nuclear agreement : "Any violation of that commitment would be met with the appropriate response." Sanctions on companies in Iran's uranium mining industry will be lifted when the nuclear deal is fully implemented. ~~~~~ One group of US experts would not be surprised that Iran hid its new uranium deposits from the US-led P1+5 negotiators and UN/IAEA scientists. A Defense One survey recently found deep skepticism among US active-duty military and civilian national security employees when they were asked to evaluate the statement, “The Iran nuclear deal is a good deal for the United States” --- 66% of responders disagreed — and two-thirds of that group “strongly disagreed.” When asked what the US should do about it, 62% said the US would be better off rejecting the deal and keeping current sanctions in place. Half said the US should compensate for the deal by increasing arms sales to countries in the Middle East. ~~~~And, dear readers, now we learn that President Obama knew about a link between the terrorist group that attacked the World Trade Center towers on 9/11 and Iran, but he has not yet told Americans. Documents captured by SEAL Team 6 after they killed Osama bin Laden reportedly show that al-Qaida was welcome in Iran. Around 2006, al-Qaida wanted to set up an Iran office, but it was too expensive. Before the Iran nuclear deal was signed, the Wall Street Journal wrote : “[E]arlier this summer the State Department’s latest country report on terrorism said Iran had ‘previously’ allowed al-Qaida ‘to operate a core facilitation pipeline through Iran,’ implying this was over. Less than a month later, President Obama announced the Iran nuclear deal." While he hid the information from Americans prior to the unpopular Iran deal, Obama could now release bin Laden files related to Iran. The WSJ said : "[I]f the President doesn’t release the documents, Congress ought to demand them." Before Obama gives Iran $150 billion and a nuclear capability, Congress and America deserve to see these documents, as well as the Iran deal secret side agreements. But it will take House legal action by Speaker Boehner and the GOP caucus to pry them loose from Obama.The fate of the dangerous Obama Iran deal is far from decided but we could ask, who lies more - Iran or Obama?