While the world is frozen, be assured that bad actors like Iran are not sitting still in this moment.

Though the speculation on the current status of North Korea continues to swirl, the more overt threat of Iran is simmering on the back of the proverbial stove. While Iran has been slammed hard by the coronavirus (which they should blame on China, but are happy to participate in Chinese communist lies in order to blame America), they are also getting aggressive. President Trump gave them a pointed warning – and the United States Navy the permission to fire on them – just last week.

Despite all the hysteria about “World War III” being upon us after the United States took out Qasem Soleimani, the bottom line still remains that the United States cannot trust Iran. The Iran Deal was nothing more than Barack Obama’s attempt to pay off the Iranian regime for his legacy’s sake, and Iran never proved to be acting in good faith. Any chance at peace in the Middle East depends on Iran not being able to develop nuclear weaponry, as well as keeping coventional arms out of their hands.

After all, we’ve all seen what they like to do with conventional arms – either fire them at Israel, or let Hezbollah do their dirty work.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo is trying to make sure that Iran has no chance to get conventional arms by extending a UN arms embargo against them indefinitely, instead of letting it expire this October. The problem is, this is a UN agreement, and China and Russia are going to be their usual jerk selves and sell weapons to Iran if they get the chance. So Pompeo is having to consider alternatives to the embargo extension, as he confirmed to the New York Times.

The strategy has been described in recent days by administration officials as they begin to circulate a new resolution in the Security Council that would bar countries from exporting conventional arms to Iran after the current ban expires in October. Any effort to renew the arms embargo is almost certain to be opposed by Russia and, publicly or quietly, by China. The Russians have already told American and European officials they are eager to resume conventional arms sales to Iran.”

In an effort to force the issue, Mr. Pompeo has approved a plan, bound to be opposed by many of Washington’s European allies, under which the United States would, in essence, claim it legally remains a “participant state” in the nuclear accord that Mr. Trump has denounced — but only for the purposes of invoking a “snapback” that would restore the U.N. sanctions on Iran that were in place before the accord.”

If the arms embargo is not renewed, the United States would exercise that right as an original member of the agreement. That step would force a restoration of the wide array of the sanctions that prohibited oil sales and banking arrangements before the adoption of the agreement in 2015. Enforcing those older sanctions would, in theory, be binding on all members of the United Nations.”

The way this is written, you get the sense that the NYT is almost giddy with glee that President Trump might have to eat his own words about the Iran Deal in order to invoke the “snapback” clause. The Hill took a much more measured read of the strategies at play, but the legal strategizing at play is messy at best. And, thanks to former President Obama’s hubris, he was willing to let the UN arms embargo lapse in favor of his own deal.

The intricate strategy has been described by senior administration officials involved in devising it. Asked about it, Mr. Pompeo said in a statement to The New York Times: “We cannot allow the Islamic Republic of Iran to purchase conventional weapons in six months. President Obama should never have agreed to end the U.N. arms embargo.”

“We are prepared to exercise all of our diplomatic options to ensure the arms embargo stays in place at the U.N. Security Council,” he added.”

Yet again, the combined idiocy of Barack Obama and Ben Rhodes has made the world less safe. Heckuva job, guys.

The easy solution is to get the UN Security Council to agree to an indefinite extention of the arms embargo on Iran. The obviously messier solution is to try to trigger the so-called “snapback” clause in the Iran Deal. Secretary Pompeo has to prepare for all contingencies, as convoluted as they might appear. But be prepared for the Biden camp to sing the praises of the Iran Deal in order to blame President Trump for leaving it, and thus failing to rein in Iran – even though that’s what their stupid deal was supposed to do in the first place.

Featured image via Pixabay, cropped, Pixabay license