The worst feature of President Obama’s disastrous deal with Iran is that it provides immediate sanctions relief that will cause $100 billion to $150 to flow into the regime’s coffers, and will lead to substantial improvement in Iran’s economy, which has been badly hurt by the sanctions that the U.N., the U.S. and others have imposed. This means that opposition to the ayatollahs’ rule will be weakened, and Iran will have more resources to support terrorist groups like Hezbollah and rogue governments like Assad’s Syria, and to invest in nuclear weapons development, conventional armaments, and intercontinental ballistic missiles.

As I wrote here, the Obama administration, in the person of John Kerry, floated the absurd claim that Iran won’t expand its support for terrorism because it is not “allowed” to do so by U.N. resolutions that are unaffected by the abandonment of sanctions. More recently, as Paul noted this afternoon, Kerry has professed to be “disturbed” by the fact that Iran’s Supreme Leader says Iran’s hostile policies, including its support for terrorist groups, “won’t change at all” as a result of the nuclear agreement.

Kerry had better be prepared for more disturbance, since Iran’s leaders, as reported by that country’s news service, unanimously say that it will continue to support its allies, including terrorists like Hezbollah, and otherwise make war on the United States and its allies:

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araqchi underlined that the nuclear agreement inked by Tehran and the world powers doesn’t include any contents related to Iran’s weapons and missile power, adding that the country will continue arms assistance to its regional allies. “We have told them (the Group 5+1 – the US, Russia, China, Britain and France plus Germany) in the negotiations that we will supply arms to anyone and anywhere necessary and will import weapons from anywhere we want and we have clarified this during the negotiations,” Araqchi told the state TV on Monday night. … In relevant remarks on Monday, renowned political analyst Dr. Mohammad Marandi said that Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told him in Vienna last week that Iran would continue to supply arms to the regional nations even under a final nuclear deal. “When we were in Vienna, the Arab reporters asked me if Iran would continue arms aids to its regional allies under the final deal, and when I asked Mr. Zarif, the Iranian foreign minister, the question, he told me that Iran would continue the arms supply policy,” Marandi, a Tehran University Professor, said.

They will continue that policy, only with another $100 billion to $150 billion to spend. Iran’s rulers are well aware that they are not “allowed” by U.N. resolutions to supply terrorist organizations with money and arms. They just don’t care:

“Mr. Zarif told me that Iran would continue its arms aid to the regional nations and he told me that it would be in violation of the UN Security Council resolution (that was adopted earlier today), but it would not be in opposition to the agreement (also known as the Comprehensive Joint Plan of Action),” he reiterated adding that Zarif had not asked him to remain unnamed when reflecting the answer to the reporters.

No matter how hard I try, I can’t think of a reason why it would be in the interest of the United States to confer legitimacy on Iran’s radical theocratic regime, to enrich the mullahs and enhance their ability to make war, and to entrench them in power.