The Washington Post has always been a fan of Obama’s Iran Deal. Now, with Iran’s announcement that they’ve gone over the limits set by the deal, the ‘smart’ editors at the Washington Post are here to tell us that Trump is to blame.

“WHEN PRESIDENT TRUMP withdrew the United States from the nuclear accord with Iran and reapplied sanctions, Tehran’s response was easily foreseeable and widely predicted: It would start to break through the limits it agreed to in uranium enrichment and other work that could lead it to nuclear weapons. Sure enough, Iranian news agencies reported Monday that the regime had crossed a new line by enriching uranium above the limit set by the deal. It had previously breached the cap on the total stockpile of enriched uranium it was allowed to keep.

Since it has initiated a confrontation that has sharply raised tensions in the Persian Gulf, you’d think the Trump administration would have anticipated the Iranian response and gamed out its next moves, with the aim of achieving tangible objectives without plunging the United States into another Middle East war. Mr. Trump’s response to the Iranian announcements suggests otherwise. “Iran better be careful” was all he had for reporters on Sunday. The empty words once again reveal the president’s lack of either a coherent goal for his “maximum pressure” campaign, or a strategy for achieving it.”

Golly, those editors really want Trump to be the bad guy in all of this. You’d think that Iran has been the poor misunderstood nice guy all along!  Nope, this is just some kind of ‘carefully calibrated’ bargaining chip, one that Trump has evidently misunderstood.

How many times do we have to beat it through the thick skulls of the media? Iran, since they threw out the Shah, has NEVER been a nice guy.

But sure! Tell us again how Iran is the good guy here? Look, there are problems with the deal, and with some of the tactics the Trump Administration has utilized. As others point out, Trump should strongly consider designating Iran’s oil company as a state sponsor of terrorism. Why that hasn’t been done, I’ve no idea.

CNN also chimed in with their take on how this is all Trump’s fault.

I’ve always believed that Iran never ever EVER had any intentions of fully adhering to the deal sneakily crafted by Ben Rhodes, John Kerry, and Obama. And furthermore, per Iran’s announcement today, they are going to keep moving forward with uranium enrichment, deal be damned. 

“However, Iran warned that it sees no impediments to increasing enrichment further as well flouting other stipulations of the deal.

“For now, we don’t need 20 percent,” Behrouz Kamalvandi, a spokesman for Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization said Monday. “But if we do, since we have already exceeded 3.67 percent, we have no limitations or obstacles to do so.”

“There is the 20 percent option and there are options even higher than that but each in its own place,” said Kamalvandi, according to state media.” [Emphasis Added]

Ok, given that, does this mean that Iran is really going to rebuild its nuke program?

Those oh so smart Washington Post editors are 100% SURE that Iran isn’t going to develop nukes. Nope, they aren’t ‘racing for that capability’ at all. Well, if they aren’t, this is one helluva bargaining chip that Iran threw onto the table.

Iran’s latest expansion of its nuclear program will lead to further isolation and sanctions. Nations should restore the longstanding standard of no enrichment for Iran’s nuclear program. Iran’s regime, armed with nuclear weapons, would pose an even greater danger to the world.

— Secretary Pompeo (@SecPompeo) July 7, 2019

Iran has violated its solemn promise under the UN Security Council not to enrich uranium beyond a certain level. The enrichment of uranium is made for one reason and one reason only: It’s for the creation of atomic bombs. pic.twitter.com/sLSJ8K9uCN

— PM of Israel (@IsraeliPM) July 7, 2019

https://twitter.com/omriceren/status/1148196228141899776

Who knew it would be so easy to restart supposedly dismantled centrifuges?

Don’t get me wrong, there are problems with the Iran Deal and, as Marta points out here, there are definite problems with Trump’s Iran policy. She’s correct in that sanctions will only work against Iran IF our allies jump on board, and we should’ve stayed focused on Iran’s massive support of state sponsored terrorism.

That said, blaming Iran’s latest move solely on Trump is short-sighted and ignores the reality that Iran is playing a multi-sided game – one with many hidden pieces.

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Feature Photo Credit: Iranian President’s Office via AP 2015, cropped and modified