How to Keep Obama From Folding on Iran?

Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif at the United Nations. Normally, conservative critics of the president would repeat standard objections: Iran has done nothing to earn this PR boost. There is nothing that can’t be done at a lower level. This shouldn’t be taking place.

But despair that the administration is itching to make a bogus deal is so widespread, their expectations are lower and their reaction more nuanced. Some critics quietly express thanks that at least President Obama is not meeting with the Iranian president Hassan Rouhani – at least not yet.

One former U.S. official sums up the dilemma: “[Kerry] is meeting with the representative of the leading state sponsor of terrorism, a state that has killed lots of Americans. On the other hand, if they reach out it is very hard to defend saying no, especially if in principle we are saying we may have to bomb them.” Like other administration critics, he suggests a sub-cabinet meeting might have been more appropriate.

Reuel Marc Gerecht likewise tells me, “Zarif will be all over town chatting with the usual Iran apologists and others of good heart and great credulity. Kerry might as well listen to him face to face. Although Kerry’s performance with Syria does not bode well, we have to work with the Secretary of State that we have.” He adds in a more hopeful vein: “Kerry can deliver a very stern message about the need for the supreme leader to fess up on militarization of the nuclear program — confession is an excellent place to start — and lay out how Tehran intends to proceed to derail a nuclear breakout capacity.”

…

Benjamin Weinthal, writing for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, observes:

The Obama administration’s willingness to entertain Iran’s regime as an honest negotiating partner is raising alarm bells in the Sunni Gulf monarchies and in Israel. To be fair, Obama’s national-security spokesman Ben Rhodes said last week, “We’ve always made clear that we’ll make judgments based on the actions of the Iranian government not just on their words.”

Read the full article here.