Obama hailed a ‘more hopeful world… an opportunity to move in another direction’
Source: The Independent
By Robert Fisk
However much Bibi Netanyahu of Israel and the Gulf sultans rage at the Vienna agreement, the Arabs at least will suspect the truth: that the Americans have taken the Shia Muslim side in the Middle East’s sectarian war.
That’s not how it was represented by the great and the good, of course. The headlines were simple. The Iranians agree to jam the breaks on their nuclear programme, pack up their centrifuges for a decade and cut back their uranium stockpile. All this in return for an end to the sanctions, financial goodies and bank transfers that Washington, the EU and the dear old United Nations had variously imposed on and witheld from the nation which that bearded old prelate Ruhollah Khomeini founded as an Islamic Republic 36 years ago.
A lot of chaps in white coats from the IAEA would be able to truffle through Iran’s nuclear plants – with or without sufficient prior warning to the Iranians, this wasn’t quite so clear. But it was peace in our time. Forget about Obama’s legacy and all the technical twaddle in the 80-page agreement – 100 pages in Farsi – because Iran is now on course to put on the dead Shah’s mantle as Policeman of the Gulf. Middle East seismologists should get ready for the earthquake.
Categories: Americas, Asia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, United States