During Joe Biden's vice presidency, Barack Obama entered into the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, which lifted sanctions from Iran and gave the mullahs $1.7 billion in cash, all based upon Iran's promises that it would slow its drive towards becoming a nuclear power.  Even as he was entering into the deal, Obama admitted that Iran would probably use the money to continue its military build-up and worldwide terrorism.

There's reason to believe that Iran used that money to fund its deadly incursions in Syria.  In 2018, Donald Trump withdrew from the agreement — something that he was easily able to do because Obama never bothered even trying to get Congress to sign off on the agreement.  Trump reimposed sanctions on Iran, which greatly increased that despotic regime's fragility.

Joe Biden, though, still thinks that if we just make nice to Iran, it will be our friend.  In some ways, you have to admire a man who still has the naïveté of a kindergartener, but that's still not what you want in a potential president of the United States.

Biden's latest push to help Iran comes in the form of a formal statement at Medium in which he says that, because Iran is suffering so badly from COVID-19, America needs to help out.  Joe admits, because he has to, that "the Iranian government has failed to respond effectively to this crisis, including lying and concealing the truth from its own people, and it continues to act provocatively in the region."

Biden adds, though, that part of Iran's suffering is Trump's fault because the big meanie abandoned the nuclear deal.  That was bad enough, says Biden, but abandoning Iran now, in a viral era, makes it even worse.  The only way to fix the situation, says Biden, is to give, give, give:

Specific steps should include: issuing broad licenses to pharmaceutical and medical device companies; creating a dedicated channel for international banks, transportation companies, insurers, and other service firms to help Iranians access life-saving medical treatment; issuing new sanctions guidance to these groups and international aid organizations to make it clear how they can immediately, directly, and legally respond to the tragedy in Iran, without fear of penalty; and, for entities already conducting enhanced due diligence, it should issue comfort letters to reassure them that they will not be subject to U.S. sanctions if they engage in humanitarian trade with Iran to support its COVID-19 response. The administration should also consider similar steps to ensure that U.S. sanctions do not inhibit live-saving medical assistance to other countries hard hit by the virus.

It would take a book to detail all the things wrong with Biden's plan.  Here, though, is the most crucial point: Europe already gave Iran one billion euros in aid (1.08 billion dollars) to help the long-suffering Iranian people fight the coronavirus.  Instead, according to secretary of state Mike Pompeo, the regime's leaders pocketed the money and hoarded medical supplies for themselves:

Pompeo on Monday issued a series of new allegations about Tehran's mishandling of the coronavirus outbreak. "Supreme leader [Ali] Khamenei's fabrications regarding the Wuhan virus are dangerous and they put Iranians and people around the world at greater risk," Pompeo said. "Facts matter."

"Regime officials stole over a billion euros intended for medical supplies," Pompeo said in one of the first public accountings of Iran's alleged misuse of humanitarian funds that were meant to be used in cases such as the coronavirus outbreak. That sum amounts to well over one billion in American currency. Pompeo also said Iranian officials "continue to hoard desperately needed masks, gloves, and other medical equipment for sale on the black market."

The State Department made clear in facts sheets distributed to reporters that the billions in humanitarian funds Iran stole could have been used to fight the coronavirus in Iran. This includes misusing millions of dollars in late 2019 to purchase tobacco instead of medical supplies.

If the mullahs want aid, they should look to China. After all, Iran's having thrown its lot in with China for promised economic benefits is why COVID-19 appeared in Iran in the first place.

Former defense secretary Robert Gates, who worked with Biden during the Obama administration, said of him, "I think [Biden's] been wrong on nearly every major foreign policy and national security issue over the past four decades."  With his latest demand that America fund an intractable enemy headed by corrupt men who siphon off money meant for their suffering people, Biden shows that he's nothing if not consistent.  Once again, he's wrong, stupidly, dangerously wrong.