With enough anger to go around over the recent White House scandal of selling off the flawed Iran nuclear deal to the American people, Congress and the international community as a whole, what is the most important conclusion to reach after this fiasco? Accusations are flying around and many on The Hill are calling for heads to roll, with senior Republicans demanding U.S. President Barack Obama to fire the main figure behind the entire White House campaign to present the Iran nuclear deal, Deputy National Security Adviser for Strategic Ben Rhodes. All in all, however, the main target in the crosshairs should be the broader appeasement policy adopted by the West in general, and spearheaded by the Obama administration, that has provided Iran reasoning for just about everything.

Rhodes was Obama’s right-hand to bring aboard not just policymakers in America, but their counterparts and ordinary citizens across the globe, all being convinced in de jure that Iran was actually personifying and evolving into a moderate state with Hassan Rouhani taking office.

The Abyss
For those having the slightest understanding of the nuts and bolts of politics in Iran, along with an introductory into Mullah Ideology 101, it would be easy to realize the cunning deception. Despite the intense White House-led lobby to convince politicians across the globe over the Iran nuclear deal, there were always voices heard speaking of the dangers of such a precedent and the consequences of digging the West deeper into the appeasement abyss. Unfortunately, Western governments and companies were only seeking to profit on re-engaging with the potential market in Iran, and most specifically the oil/gas industries.

Whatever their intention, the pro-appeasement bloc in the West have allowed Iran to very easily gain considerable concessions for merely temporarily suspending its nuclear program. Interesting is the fact that Tehran itself came out unbounded to any lasting significant terms. As we are horrified each day, Iran is with the utmost temerity continuing its systematic violation of human rights and executions across the country, feeling free to harass its neighbors and democracies cherished in the West, playing a very destructive meddling role in the raging wars of Iraq and Syria, and of course, test-firing sophisticated ballistic missiles with the ultimate objective of mastering ICMB technology and eventually placing a multiple nuclear warheads payload on such a delivery system.

What To Learn
If they are honest, those who supported the narrative used by the Obama administration on Iran improving its behavior will come forward and admit to their mistakes. The West, and appeasement advocates, have to understand once and for all that the Iranian regime by nature simply cannot be the breeding ground for any “moderate” movement. Learning from such mistakes can be the valuable lesson of this entire process. Understanding how the mullahs in Iran simply lack the ability to change their mentality and actually behave like today’s western democracies is ever so important. This consists of the fact that the mullahs sitting on the throne will simply not become pacifist and evolve into an ordinary government as long as one provides them seemingly endless concessions. Iran smells weakness and desperation in any party offering concessions, and this approach must be set aside completely.

Needed now is a firm policy to begin exerting an array of diplomatic and economic leverage on Iran, forcing the mullahs to make some serious changes to their attitude and approach. Senior figures in the U.S. government and others in the West opened their arms to the Iran nuclear deal, then paved the path for a further heading toward appeasement. Many logically thought senior U.S. government officials would come to comprehend the ongoing crisis engulfing the broader Middle East, and thus refrain from purposefully misleading their European counterparts on an issue so vital for global security.

Iran Says Thank You
Realizing Washington had become absolutely desperate to save face and preserve a so-called legacy for President Obama in the Iran nuclear deal, Tehran’s negotiating team time and again demanded further concessions in the marathon talks despite the fact that the hard facts of the original deal were hammered back in 2012, long before Rouhani ever came to office. The P5+1 mistakenly gave in to the demands stated by the Iranians, only to be thanked by Tehran launching a surge of ballistic missile tests, parallel to a range of further instigating measures to claim their defiance for their dismal domestic base. A senior mullah has recently emphasized how Tehran considers Iraq and Syria as their “frontline defense of Islam.” These measures have only caused further rows and stirs, in contrast to the results promised by the Obama administration we would witness in Iran following the nuclear pact.

Rouhani has also taken advantage of the current situation to ramp up domestic crackdown and resort such atrocities unprecedented in over two decades, such as sentencing a rights advocate to 16 years behind bars for her activities. So much for a “moderate” and promised reforms. Concerns have also further increased after Iran praised a recently killed senior Hezbollah commander in Syria. This clearly demonstrates the fact that reform prospects were flawed for Tehran’s domestic and foreign policies alike.
The harsh reality is the Obama administration proposed to the international community unambiguously false claims over the nature of Rouhani and the road ahead regarding the regime in Iran. To this end, the world came to realize there can be no trust be in Obama’s wishful thinking of leaving behind a legacy consisting of full engagement with Iran through an appeasement perspective. This must be the final nail in the coffin for the appeasement / rapprochement / engagement policy vis-à-vis Iran.