As Congress debates the agreement with Iran, there will be much bluster in the next couple of months about bomb grade fuel, breakout times, centrifuges, heavy water reactors, stockpiles of enriched uranium, and, of course, the impediments to inspection. But all this technical stuff will have nothing to do with what really bothers the most blustering of the nay sayers. In their view, we had the Iranians down. It hurt so bad they were screaming for us to let go. And now, for a bunch of promises, we are letting go. Soon they will bounce up, stronger than ever and just as defiant. That is why Jeb Bush and others are damning the agreement as appeasement. That is why Prime Minister Netanyahu condemns it as an historic mistake. In their view, we should keep the Iranians down and let them scream, try hurting them more, not less. That’s what you do with evil. It is a visceral feeling that has nothing to do with centrifuges and enrichment and all the other details of the agreement...

Premier Jacques Chirac of France faced bitter condemnation from Britain and growing suspicion within France on Tuesday over his deal with Iran for the release of two French hostages in Lebanon. Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of Britain, commenting on the French concessions that brought the two hostages home, told the House of Commons in London that “treating with terrorists only leads to more kidnappings and more violence.” “That is the way we will not do it,” she went on. “The best defense against terrorists is to make clear that you will never give in to their demands.” Even before Thatcher spoke to Parliament, an aide to Chirac said in Paris that “we are a little astonished” at reports of the fury of Thatcher and British Foreign Minister Geoffrey Howe and at editorials in London newspapers that accused France of “betrayal” and of “a cynical compact with terror.” A cartoon in the Independent, a London newspaper, showed France pulling down the French flag from the Eiffel Tower and replacing it with a white flag of surrender. In Washington, State Department spokesman Charles Redman also was sharply critical, although he stopped short of accusing Paris of paying ransom...

The French government allowed Wahid Gordji, the Iranian official suspected of helping terrorists in Paris, to leave the besieged Iranian Embassy and return home to Iran on Sunday as part of an obvious trade for two French hostages released by their captives in Beirut two days ago. The office of Premier Jacques Chirac, in a carefully worded statement, also held out the hope that Iran would now use its influence to help arrange the release of the three other French hostages in Beirut. The departure of Gordji, holed up in the embassy for five months, also appeared to signal an end to what the French press had called “the war of the embassies” and could signal an early resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries. After Gordji refused to appear for questioning, France sealed off the Iranian Embassy here last June 30, blocking 45 Iranians inside, and Iran responded by sealing off the French Embassy in Tehran with nine employees inside...