The Art of the Bad Deal: Iran tricks U.S. into the worst deal of the century

Dear Friend of FLAME:

In a recent episode of the Disney’s “Tehran” thriller, an Israeli spymaster (played by Glenn Close) advises one of her operatives trying to make a deal with an Iranian counterpart, “Make him want you, make him come to you—never let him think you need him more than he needs you.

Joe Biden apparently missed that episode, since he’s reportedly pressing ahead with a Son of Iran Deal that the mullahs swear they don’t need and to which they continue to add outrageous new conditions.

Add this: The Islamic Republic remains the most deadly state sponsor of terrorism in the Middle East, including the recent attacks on Israel by Palestinian Islamic Jihad and last week’s murder attempt on author Salman Rushdie.

None of this would be so terrifying if the new proposed Iran Deal didn’t promise to put nearly a billion dollars into Iran’s coffers, or if it forced Iran to stop its attacks on other states in the region . . . or if it actually stopped Iran from developing nuclear weapons.

Tragically, Biden’s new Iran Deal fails on all three of these huge issues.

In fact, the Americans trying to negotiate the new Iran Deal seem to have no understanding of how to make a smart deal. Indeed, you need not have written a volume on dealmaking to know that Team Biden is making every mistake in the book.

Rule Number 1: No deal gets done unless you’re talking directly with the decision-maker. Unfortunately, Iran—because of their distrust of the U.S.—arrogantly refuses even to negotiate with the United States in the room. That pre-condition alone should have made the U.S. walk away from negotiations. Instead, the U.S. is meekly allowing members of the EU and primarily Russian envoy Mikhail Ulyanov to present U.S. demands. Let that sink in: Russia—whose war with Ukraine is currently supported by Iran; Russia, which has just formed an alliance with Iran and Turkey to oppose the U.S.— Russia is the lead negotiator representing American security interests against Iran. It’s a sucker’s set up that reads like bad fiction.

Rule Number 2: Never make a deal with someone who insists they don’t need a deal. An Iranian leader just told Reuters (on condition of anonymity) that “We are in no rush” to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal. “We are selling our oil, we have reasonable trade with many countries, including neighboring countries, we have our friends like Russia and China that both are at odds with Washington . . . our (nuclear) program is advancing. Why should we retreat?” Iran is thriving precisely because the U.S. has loosened sanctions against it—which foolishly undermines our own negotiating leverage. Why would anyone do that?

Rule Number 3: Don’t chase a deal whose negotiations drag on too long. For almost 17 months the U.S. has been trying desperately to resuscitate President Obama’s long-dead JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) with Iran. Every month or so, word is leaked that “an agreement may be imminent.” But the Biden team should know that deals don’t improve over time. In fact, the longer the talks go on, the more naive and gullible the Americans look. Sometimes the best deal is no deal. Good negotiators are always prepared to walk away. It’s already past that time.

Rule Number 4: Don’t make deals with people who are attacking you. People who want peace make peace overtures. The Iranians show no signs of peace and make no offers of compromise. Yet they continue to attack U.S. interests and friends. Just this week, the U.S. Department of Justice charged a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps. (IRGC) of plotting to kill former U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Following an Iranian fatwa to kill author Salman Rushdie, a man tried to stab Rushdie to death last week. Iran state media praised the act. Iran continues to plot murders, abductions and terror against the U.S. and its allies (including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad missile attacks on Israel a few weeks ago). Current terms of the Biden Iran Deal do not demand that Iran stop such terrorist behavior. Why on earth not?

Rule Number 5: Don’t make deals with people who keep moving the goal posts. Every time the U.S. thinks it’s close to a deal, Iran raises the stakes with new demands. They demanded that the U.S. remove the terrorist designation for the IRGC, now they’re demanding that the U.S. guarantee U.S. companies will be protected if the U.S. pulls out of the deal in the future. Iran says this latest demand is non-negotiable—they want a yes-no answer. Unfortunately, President Biden can’t guarantee a deal unless he gets two-thirds of the Senate to approve it as a treaty—unlikely since more than half the Senate already disapproves of the Deal (as it also did the Obama version in 2015).

Rule Number 6: Don’t make a deal that doesn’t meet your minimum requirements. President Biden has promised numerous times—to American voters, to Gulf Arab states and to our ally Israel—that any new Iran Deal will stop Iran from building nuclear weapons. However, the original JCPOA did not guarantee that, and no such deal terms have ever been announced by Team Biden for this new version. Mr. Biden must explain why we should make a deal that expressly allows Iran to develop a nuclear bomb.

Please point out to friends, family, elected representatives—and in letters to the editor—that the current Iran Deal is a bad deal for three reasons: It fails to follow best negotiating practices, it forces the U.S. to take the short end of the stick on many issues, and it fails to secure U.S. interests toward a nuclear- and terror-free Iran. In short, it’s a deal better left undone.

Emphasize, too, that if President Biden truly believes that his deal is a good one for the United States, he should present it as a treaty to the U.S. Senate, according to our Constitution, and secure a two-thirds vote of approval to ensure it stands beyond the next election.

I hope you’ll also take a minute, while you have this material front and center, to forward this message to friends, visit FLAME’s lively Facebook page and review the P.S. immediately below. It describes FLAME’s new hasbarah campaign—”The Palestinian Catastrophe”—which exposes the false narrative of “Nakba Day,” commemorating Palestinians’ missed opportunity for independence.

Best regards,

James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)