IRAN MADE ILLEGAL PURCHASES OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS TECHNOLOGY LAST MONTH:

The question is not whether Iran can be trusted to uphold the nuclear deal now being negotiated in Vienna (it can’t), but whether the Obama administration and its P5+1 partners can be trusted to punish Iran when it violates the agreement?

Experience shows that unless Iran violates the deal egregiously, the temptation will be to ignore it. For instance, Iran got away with selling more oil than it should have under the interim agreement. More ominously, Tehran repeatedly pushed the envelope on technical aspects of the agreement—such as caps on its uranium stockpile—and got away with it. The Obama administration and other Western powers have so much invested in their diplomatic efforts that they’ll deny such violations ever occurred.

Or as Lee Smith writes elsewhere at the Weekly Standard, “Obama is counting on Iran to be a cornerstone of a regional peace similar to what the Congress of Vienna built in 1815. The more likely result is that he has unleashed a monster.”

Speaking of which, “‘Death to America’ Flag Barbecue in Iran ‘No Mere Sideshow’ as Talks Continue.”