The Iran Wars: Spy Games, Bank Battles, and the Secret Deals That Reshaped the Middle East Hardcover – August 23, 2016 by Jay Solomon (Random House)

Wall Street Journal chief foreign affairs correspondent Jay Solomon chronicles the sea-change shift in American foreign policy toward Iran, leading to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or simply “Iran Deal.” Prior to the second Obama Administration, American officials mostly unapologetically deployed American economic might against any foreign nation or business who chose to do business with Iran. Solomon details the shift in US policy which began the day Barack Obama was first inaugurated. While the U.S. Congress continued to insist on sanctions, Obama began to openly foreswear the Bush Administration’s pressure for regime change in Iran in favor of a softer, more accommodating position. This shift in approach from a hardline, “we will not talk to evil” stance to a position which accommodated almost any Iranian demand is detailed here.

The Iran Wars does a masterful job of exposing the Obama Administration’s “sales job” of the P5+1 Iran deal, much of it hidden from the public, highlighted by unprecedented concessions from the West—and repeated denial of such concessions. This is a crucial work in the spirit of keeping the actual facts of the Iran deal exposed as opposed to the Obama Administration’s spin. With a new American President on the horizon and Iranian aggression continuing unabated by the terms of the deal, this debate will continue to erupt. I compare this book favorably with All the President’s Men and Veil, landmark works in exposing Presidential obfuscation and deception.

While The Iran Wars covers the entire period of U.S.-Iran relations from the revelation of Iran’s pursuing a nuclear capability, the principle revelations of this book concern the “secret deals” between Iran and the White House leading to the 2015 agreement. Solomon castigates the Obama Administration’s naiveté in dealing with Iran, agreeing with the opinion of a senior Israeli official who declared, “The White House bet the farm on reaching an accommodation with the Iranians, but they never truly understood who they were dealing with” Barack Obama, to his credit, understands this. Solomon quotes Obama admitting only weeks after the deal was signed: “Look, 20 years from now I’m still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this.” (p.297)