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To the horror of literally every one of our Middle Eastern allies, and after months of Iranian Parliament-lead Death to America chants, there has been an agreement to remove sanctions on Iran and allow them to pursue "peaceful" nuclear technology development (because a country that is sitting on billions of dollars of oil totally wants to invest in nuclear energy).

In an interesting turn of international events, Israel and Saudi Arabia have joined together in a stand against the passing of this agreement. Iran is funding the opposing force to the Saudi's in Syria/et al and has vowed to defend Assad to the end.

{ Estimates of the cost to Iran of propping up Mr Assad with cash, military advisers and Shia fighters hired from across the region range from $6-35 billion annually.

Last month Hassan Rouhani, the Iranian president, was quoted as saying: "The Iranian nation and government will remain at the side of the Syrian nation and government until the end of the road." }

One of the main reasons this deal went through is because Iran crossed their fingers behind their back and said they'd support the effort to replace Assad.

{ Some Western supporters of the deal hope that having been brought “into the circle of nations” Iran will become what they call a “constructive player” in Middle East regional negotiations.

That means, in Syria’s case, agreeing to a deal whereby Mr Assad is forced out in favour of a transitional government representing all non-jihadist factions in the civil war.

"Iran must show that it is ready to help us on Syria to end this conflict," Francois Hollande of France said.

However, there is nothing in the deal that would force Iran to change its stance on Syria or any of the other conflicts, such as in Yemen, where it is backing the Houthi rebels against the recognised, Saudi-backed government. }

Syria/Assad have their own opinion on the news, however.

{ Syrian President Bashar al-Assad congratulated key ally Iran Tuesday on reaching a nuclear deal with world powers, calling the agreement a "great victory".

In a message to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Assad said he was "happy that the Islamic Republic of Iran has achieved a great victory by reaching an agreement", state news agency SANA reported.

"In the name of the Syrian people, I congratulate you and the people of Iran on this historic achievement," he added in another message addressed to President Hassan Rouhani.

Assad said the deal would be a "major turning point in the history of Iran, the region and the world." }

So that's promising.

Hopefully you're all still following along. So what does it mean immediately for Iran in terms of sanction relief?

{ "Under this deal, Iran's vast nuclear infrastructure remains largely intact," Jim DeMint, the president of the Heritage Foundation, a right-leaning think tank in Washington, D.C., and a former Republican senator from South Carolina, said in a statement. "The 'freeze' on uranium enrichment is both temporary and partial. That's not a freeze; it's a slight chill at best."

What's more, the agreement would immediately provide Iran with as much as $50 billion in sanctions relief and eventually some $150 billion more with the release of money frozen in overseas bank accounts, DeMint said. The latter figure is more than six times what Israel -- a country that Iranian leaders have vowed to destroy -- spends on defense each year, he said. }

So, those of you with any sort of awareness of current events, how do you feel about the terms of the deal and what it could mean for the future? Do you think this opens the opportunity for Iran to receive an immediate cash injection then reneging on the agreement and potentially starting a nuclear war? Or do you think Iran is ready to prove itself trustworthy and willing to compromise?

I expect Iran will start getting into nuclear power. Let them. Thats money not being spent on other war initiatives

But even if they do start making nukes. That's a waste of their cash imo. Nukes will sit pretty. They can't use one without the world reacting. In fact they can't use one without the Iranian theocratic leaders reacting either.

It pays to remember that Iran is a theocracy. The iranian president is not the one in power. He can talk about war on Jews all day bit it's the Muslim leaders calling the shots. Last I heard they are not interested in war

misleading title.

Yeah, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, the guy who, on camera, in the middle of a parliamentary meeting about the agreement this past March literally led a "death to America" chant, the guy who frequently tweets that the only "cure" for Israel is utter annihilation. He's the one who signed off on the deal.

The main argument of opponents is that, while the brief "freeze" on their nuclear development is taking place (it's like 10 years), they'll use the ~$200,000,000,000 they immediately receive in sanctions relief to continue to fund the efforts they're already funding against Saudi Arabia/the West in Syria/etc. There's nothing in the agreement that bars them from continuing their activities there, Iran has not had to compromise at all, but they're receiving an enormously influential amount of money.

The concern is not "Iran is going to nuke everyone" but they will definitely be able to buy better weapons and supplies for their fighters in other countries, and down the line when the freeze expires and they're allowed to conduct "peaceful" nuclear research they run the risk of double-crossing everyone.

Where the hell was everyone when Meir, I. Ghandi, and Sharif got the bomb?

I doubt Iran would actually make nuclear weapons. It seems pointless in this day and age. Even if they do, the thought of them for example nuking the holy land just to destroy Israel is absurd.

On another note, i think the Israel PM over exaggerated when he said the nuclear deal was a mistake.

Where's can I get in on these nukes?

CBS News reporter asked Obama if he is content with the deal despite Iran keeping its 4 American hostages. Obama replied, "that's ridiculous and you should know better" and refused any other questions related to said hostages.

Aaaand Supreme Leader Khamenei took to Twitter to mock Obama a whole eight minutes after the press comment where ^ that statement was made.

Obama held an hour-long press conference on Wednesday to defend his negotiated settlement with Iran, only to have the Ayatollah mock congressional worries that Iran can't be trusted

{ Outraged Republicans and cautious Democrats protested after the deal was announced on Tuesday, saying Iran suffers from a trust deficit – making Khamenei's pronouncement a day later drip with irony. }

This is already going so well.

I'm pretty skeptical. Iran's been wanting to return to the glory days of the Persian Empire for a while and what better way to show off their prestige and glory than by developing a nuke? I suspect that's probably the whole reason they wanted one in the first place, so they could join the other "global powers." Then there's the "Israel must be wiped out" and "great Satan" rhetoric.

Add to it the fact the IAEA won't have full access to potential sites and must go through arbitration to get access and there's definitely potential for future issues--moreso if Russia or China decide this is the end and don't bother enforcing future sanctions if Iran reneges.

I suppose it is better than either dragging our feet for the next couple years or launching airstrikes when Iran decides to finish it, but I'm just concerned all this does is push things back a few years. Iran will still have delusions of grandeur, still have the ease of making nukes, and still have the worrying rhetoric.

Woooo girl this is getting uglier by the minute.

{ U.S. and Iranian officials confirmed Thursday that no American nuclear inspectors will be permitted to enter the country’s contested nuclear site under the parameters of a deal reached with world powers this week, according to multiple statements by American and Iranian officials.

Obama administration officials also admitted recently that promises for “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites were a rhetorical flight of fancy.

“I think this is one of those circumstance where we have all been rhetorical from time to time,” lead U.S. negotiator Wendy Sherman told reporters this week. “That phrase, ‘anytime, anywhere,’ is something that became popular rhetoric, but I think people understood that if the IAEA felt it had to have access, and had a justification for that access, that it would be guaranteed, and that is what happened.”

U.S. concessions on the structure of the inspections regime have allowed Iran to delay inspections of sensitive sites for at least 24 days. }

This is turning into a legitimate shitshow, have any of you been keeping up with this at all? jw what sort of coverage it's getting for the average person, like have any of you seen anything about it trending on facebook or caught a glimpse on buzzfeed or anything like that?

• Senate Democrats are pissed that Obama went to the UN for approval of the Iran deal before Congress, spitting in the face of HR 1191 (the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015) which Congress passed earlier this year specifically in order to read it within five days of being agreed upon.

• Everyone is getting very antsy about this whole 24 days thing. { “At the beginning, and I’ve seen clips of this, we were really under the assumption that there would be anywhere, anytime inspections,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) added. “Now we’re hearing talk about like 24 days or something notice before inspections.” }

• Former Pentagon adviser on rogue regimes, Michael Rubin, said publicly of the deal: “There’s a reason why Obama doesn’t want Congress to see the agreement. That is because to examine the agreement is to recognize that it’s more an unconditional surrender than an arms control agreement.”

• Sec. of State John Kerry said a speech by Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday vowing to defy American policies in the region despite a deal with world powers over Tehran's nuclear program was "very troubling". (lmao thx John Kerry) speech summary in case you missed it: { Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the highest authority in Iran, told supporters on Saturday that U.S. policies in the region were "180 degrees" opposed to Iran's, in a Tehran speech punctuated by chants of "Death to America" and "Death to Israel". }

• Saudi Arabia's Prince Bandar bin Sultan announced, "Saudi Arabia and the Gulf powers are prepared to take military action without American support after the Iran nuclear deal."

• Supreme Leader Khamenei hand-picked a senior Iranian cleric to lead special Al-Quds Day prayers (which are officially sanctioned by the government) behind a podium with signs on the front that read in Persian "We Will Trample Upon America" and in English "We Defeat the United States".

I laugh whenever jumpy people take any "DEFF 2 AMERIKA" threats seriously.

If you are reading articles like this then from the way things look, the deal could potentially be called off.

The whole idea was simple: remove sanctions on Iran and Iran removes sanctions in return

The UN gets much cheaper oil while Iran gets to continue to enrich uranium. However part of that deal was that Iran cannot make enough uranium for weaponry and must agree to allow inspectors into nation so the UN can make sure of it. If they are refusing inspectors and being generally hostile and insulting towards the UN then that could break the entire deal before we start getting that cheaper oil.

That's if you roll with the hype. Iran has always been a target of scare media. And I'm wary of articles that are trying to press more fear of Iran to make the headlines with claims of nukes flying around and allah ackbars. Other sources say the deal does not give Iran the okay to nuke it up and instead arranges the opposite so that other trade deals can occur with Iran peacefully so I'm not sure how to take the general reaction of "Iran is getting nukes!!!!"

Seems the story is being painted in more than one way which is confusing matters .

But with Iranian Supreme leaders acting cocky and saying they defeated America, it's definitely getting harder to tell the scaremongering apart from the actual news as time goes by

Iran is not "getting nukes". For fifteen years, they will decrease their nuclear program in return for sanctions being removed. After 15 years all bets are off, they are no longer required to restrict their nuclear development, which is what people who are talking about their eventual nukes are talking about. People focusing entirely on the nuclear side of this are only addressing half of the concern.

The sanctions being removed cause an extreme influx in cash to Iran, whose government opposes the Saudi (thus us) government in the physical conflicts they're both involved in. The sanctions being removed also allow Iran to purchase traditional modern weapons, and what the international community is genuinely worried about is their missile program, which the agreement does not actually restrict despite the Obama Administration initially insisting that was included. It merely recommends they not research any ballistic missile technology designed to carry nuclear weapons, and Iran's Foreign Minister was quoted within the past few days saying that since their missiles are not designed to carry nuclear weapons, the recommendation doesn't apply to them anyway.

That is why our Middle Eastern allies are flipping a major fucking bitch over the whole thing. They're the ones who are actively fighting against the Iranian forces in the region, and they're the ones who are going to be at the mercy of whatever new weapons and technology the Iranian government equips those forces with. It's such a huge cash injection so quickly that they're not going to be able to keep up.

Some pics released by Iran's state TV agency show that, during the speech he made while giving his first public comments about the agreement he was holding an AK-47 lmaooo.

The Associated Press, Reuters, Agence France-Presse and The New York Times all published reports on his speech and comments, but none of them mentioned the gun. Not a single one.

Today, the Supreme Leader tweeted this:

so that's… interesting.

Damn, that guy is extremely defensive. Almost as if he's terrified that the US will actually invade Iran and is barking at the US like an angry dog from across the fence

He's basically being ultra-patriotic right now. I wonder if that's because he considers the deal a victory over the US and being supremely prideful over it

Either that, or he is aware of how many Americans are reacting negatively to the deal, continuing to talk aggressively about Iran. And he's taking them far too seriously

He's blatantly mocking Obama and Kerry because he knows they won't drop the deal no matter what he does. Everyone in Iran knows they got exactly what they wanted and had to give up nothing. They've been celebrating it with death to America/Israel chants in even greater frequency every time Khamenei pulls another stunt. They're thrilled with how their Supreme Leader negotiated for them.

So it's my former guess then: patriotism. Khamenei is milking the crowd

The Obama administration has classified the majority of the 18 page Iran deal documents as "in camera" (it's Latin) which means only those with special clearance may read it in a secure room, which means the public (and experts Congress may want to consult) are banned from reading the terms of the Iran deal.

These petty insults the Iranian leader is throwing at Obama reminds me of how Kim Jong Un boasted about having nukes.

Regardless of what they gain from this deal, it doesn't give them any advantage over the US. Looks like just a bunch of dick-swinging to me.

Are we still supposed to be laughing off this kind of thing?

Russian Warships Dock In Iran for War Training

{ Russia and Iran have grown close in recent years, with delegations from each country regularly visiting one another to ink arms deals and other agreements aimed at strengthening Iran’s nuclear program.

Russia and Iran agreed earlier this year to begin construction on several new nuclear power plants. Russia has also agreed to sell Iran a controversial advanced missile defense system that can prevent attacks by Western powers.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Naval Commander Ali Fadavi was quoted as saying the “Iranian Armed Forces are now at the highest level of preparedness” and that “only the dead body of the American troops realizes the power of the Islamic Revolution." }

The IAEA has signed a deal to allow the foxes to guard the henhouse.

I was skeptical before, but now I think Obama/Kerry really screwed it up. Why even bother with inspections now?

Why do Americans think Iran is a threat? I don't recall US going into war with Iran

Suuuuure the US supported Hussein for a bit and there was that Iraq-Iran war and maybe Iran hates the US for supporting Hussein, then invading Iraq twice.

I don't think Iran has many reasons to hate the US aside from US being non-muslin country. Which really isnt much is a reason to slings nukes at. Hell I'd take North Korean nukes more seriously

I don’t think Iran has many reasons to hate the US aside from US being non-muslin country.

That isn't even the reason at all; they don't hate China and Russia for the same reason. Rather, the hate stems from the attempt of the US to have a hegemonic control over the middle east, and also from the US supporting Israel. Your mileage will vary on whether that's justified or not.

Kerry promises more US taxpayer dollars to Israel and the Gulf States to quiet then down over Iran agreement.

{ Kerry admits that, despite the deal, Iran will continue to back terrorist groups across the globe and promises to boost military support and funding to Israel and Gulf states such as Saudi Arabia, according to a copy of the letter obtained by theWashington Free Beacon.

The letter comes in response to concerns among lawmakers, Israel, and other Gulf region allies that the nuclear accord will boost the Islamic Republic’s support for terrorism, while leaving traditional U.S. allies on the defense.

“Important questions have been raised concerning the need to increase security assistance to our allies and partners in the region and to enhance our efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing activities in the region,” Kerry writes. “We share the concern expressed by many in Congress regarding Iran’s continued support for terrorist and proxy groups throughout the region, its propping up of the Assad regime in Syria, its efforts to undermine the stability of its regional neighbors, and the threat it poses to Israel.” }

But we're gonna give them hundreds of billions of dollars and trade privileges anyway~!