Obama Admin Insists Deal Gives Iran Right To Confiscate American Guns

Keeping Iran happy is key to Obama’s strategy of enlisting them in the campaign against the Islamic State.

Washington, December 21 – President Barack Obama’s administration is interpreting the recent nuclear agreement with Iran so broadly that it gives the Islamic republic the right to deprive individual Americans of their legally-owned firearms, analysts are noting.

In a bid to solidify the agreement, arrived at over the summer, the administration has proved increasingly accommodating to Tehran, effectively ignoring violations or dismissing evidence of Iranian perfidy as exaggerations. At the same time, to encourage Iran to accept the arrangement, the US has adopted a Mideast policy that in practical terms grants Iran everything it demanded and more. Experts in Washington are noting that Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry have been taking pains to make Ayatollah Khamenei, the country’s supreme leader, and its president Hassan Rouhani, as happy as possible, an approach that now includes reading the agreement as affirming Tehran’s right to confiscate the weapons of any US citizen whose use of the firearms or whose rhetoric makes the Iranian regime feel insecure.

“The general reaction to terrorist attacks in the US is a brouhaha about gun control,” explained Enna Ray, who writes for The International Review. “Vigilantism scares the mullahs, because they’re trying to assert control over, or simply sideline, the formal, recognized international institutions that could threaten their nuclear ambitions. Free radicals who see fit to take matters into their own hands aren’t exactly what they want to see or facilitate. So Obama is meeting them more than halfway, not least because getting Iran to implement the JCPOA is key to his strategy of enlisting them in the campaign against the Islamic State.”

Other analysts seconded the importance of the fight against ISIS. “Taking these weapons out of the hands of Americans and giving them to Iran could be helpful in that struggle,” noted Foreign Policy editor Vidkun Quisling. “The arms embargo on Iran is still largely in force, even if Russia keeps violating it with impunity. Iran can get more of the guns it wants and needs from American gun owners, who boast an impressive array of weapons and ammunition.” Quisling pointed to the increasing influence of the Islamic State in Iran’s eastern neighbor Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing wars in Iraq and Syria, where Iran has a major presence.

An administration official downplayed concerns that Iran would use the guns in an irresponsible manner. “They are rational,” said State Department spokesman John Kirby.