Iran Deal Provision Promises US Inaction If Terrorism Victims Jews

If, however, the target proved to be other than Jews or people obviously acting in support of Jews, the US might consider a reprimand.

Tehran, August 9 – President Hassan Rouhani of Iran told a gathering of lawmakers today that one of the clauses of the nuclear agreement signed with the US last year guarantees that as long as the Islamic Republic’s activities to foment terrorism result in the death or injury only of Jews, no American action will be taken in response.

Rouhani revealed the heretofore undisclosed provision of the JCPOA in an address to legislators hesitant to embrace it fully, and assured them that on balance, the deal was beneficial to Iran, as it preserved two key elements of the regime’s aspirations: the legalization of its nuclear weapons program and the condoning of decades-old efforts to kill and terrorize Jews around the world.

“As long as we restrict our revolutionary activities, whether directly or through Hezbollah, to those descendants of apes and pigs whose society spawned Zionism, the Great Satan will refrain from punitive or retaliatory measures,” he announced. “This understanding was an integral part of the agreement reached in Vienna last year, without which we would never have accepted the document. Publication of this provision was withheld until now to prevent the Zionist lobby from pressuring the Obama administration and Congress over its implications.”

Under the provision, said Rouhani, punitive measures such as economic sanctions, military retaliation, withholding of funds, and other such responses to Iran-sponsored or -directed killing of Jews would not be initiated. If, however, the target proved to be other than Jews or people obviously acting in support of Jews, the US might consider a reprimand.

An aide to US Secretary of State John Kerry, speaking under anonymity in keeping with State Department regulations, explained that the idea came not from the Iranians, but from the Americans themselves. “In a gesture of good faith, Secretary Kerry disclosed that the Obama administration had already been working to subvert or undermine existing mechanisms for several years,” said the aide. “The secretary was thus able to persuade his counterparts that the US was serious about not letting Iranian attacks on Jews get in the way of an agreement.”

Commentators expressed concern about ambiguities in the provision. “What happens of Iran’s Shiite militias in Iraq or Syria kill people who aren’t Jews?” wondered Thomas Friedman of The New York Times. “That has to be clarified. Also, it remains to be seen how the American response, or lack thereof, under this provision differs in any substantial way from its response to date to any other deadly acts of Iranian aggression.”