Iran has Obama’s number

There is something to offend just about everyone on the American political scene in the comments of senior Iranian presidential adviser and former intelligence minister Ali Younesi. The comments were offered for domestic political consumption to the official Iranian news agency.

I think it is fair to say that Younesi et al. have Obama’s number. Younesi’s contempt for Obama shines through his comments and it is surely reflects the consensus of the regime. The fact that Younesi would make these comments on the record for public consumption is really striking and newsworthy.

The Washington Free Beacon’s Adam Kredo has the story:

The Iranian president’s senior advisor has called President Barack Obama “the weakest of U.S. presidents” and described the U.S. leader’s tenure in office as “humiliating,” according to a translation of the highly candid comments provided to the Free Beacon.

The comments by Ali Younesi, senior advisor to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, come as Iran continues to buck U.S. attempts to woo it into the international coalition currently battling the Islamic State (IS, ISIL, or ISIS).

And with the deadline quickly approaching on talks between the U.S. and Iran over its contested nuclear program, Younesi’s denigrating views of Obama could be a sign that the regime in Tehran has no intent of conceding to America’s demands.

“Obama is the weakest of U.S. presidents, he had humiliating defeats in the region. Under him the Islamic awakening happened,” Younesi said in a Farsi language interview with Iran’s semi-official Fars News Agency.

“Americans witnessed their greatest defeats in Obama’s era: Terrorism expanded, [the] U.S. had huge defeats under Obama [and] that is why they want to compromise with Iran,” Younesi said.

Younesi follows up with comments that are somewhat offensive to conservatives like us, but the substance isn’t unflattering. We believe Israel is our friend and Iran has been our mortal enemy since, you know, around about 1979. In assessing Iran our enemy, we have taken them at their word and judged them by their actions. They have a voluminous amount of American blood on their hands. Younesi says of us: “Conservatives are war mongers, they cannot tolerate powers like Iran. If conservatives were in power they would go to war with us because they follow Israel and they want to portray Iran as the main threat and not ISIS.” Well, Iran is the main threat. ISIS doesn’t have a nuclear program or the trappings of a state and I would like to think we would support military action against Iran if necessary, though a president whose strength they respected would make it unnecessary.

Younesi also has the Democrats’ number. He deems them “no threat.” He’s got that right, though you don’t have to be a former intelligence minister to figure that out.

Younesi’s comments suggest we have a date with destiny before the ongoing nuclear talks are set to expire next month: “We [the Islamic Republic] have to use this opportunity [of Democrats being in power in the U.S.], because if this opportunity is lost, in future we may not have such an opportunity again.”

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