How does the Iran deal look from the outside?
Friday Flashpoint: June 19 AD2026
Welcome to Friday Flashpoint where I analyze and expose important historical and social developments impacting America’s place in the world.
I want to assess the Iran Deal in detail but due to traveling for a conference I will only highlight the final point of the 14 point memorandum between the United States and Iran: “The final Deal will be endorsed by a binding UNSC resolution.”
For much of the last decade, the MAGA movement has promoted the view that the Untied Nations, NATO and the rest of the post-1945 world order was irrelevant to modern geopolitics, and that—contrary to evidence or the fact that the postwar order was designed by Americans—it was somehow harmful to the interests of the American people. And now, the final point of the memorandum to end the failed conflict with the Islamic Republic of Iran explicitly calls for the United Nations Security Council—requiring the approval of the Russian Federation and the People’s Republic of China—to guarantee the peace deal.
And the US administration has agreed to this.
Agreed to a deal which includes Iran retaining ballistic missiles as a non-negotiable self defense concern. Meaning the right of Iran to these weapons will be guaranteed by the great powers of the UN Security Council.
The reversal this represents requires a bit more time than I can give at the moment. Yet it is significant. The US has ceded ground both in the region and in the international system, with no sign that something has been gained.
Everyone country in the world noticed. They cannot unsee it.
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The UN Security Council! Wow!