Iran's Supreme Leader Hopes Nuke Deal Distracts Attention From Obamacare

By Andy Borowitz, The New Yorker

25 November 13

The article below is satire. Andy Borowitz is an American comedian and New York Times-bestselling author who satirizes the news for his column, "The Borowitz Report."

he Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, told reporters today his nation agreed to a deal on its nuclear program in the hopes that it would distract attention from the trouble-plagued rollout of Obamacare.

"It's true, we've resisted any deal on nukes for over three decades," the Ayatollah said. "But when we saw how much trouble Obama was having with his Web site, we realized it would be uncaring of us not to try to help him out."

The Ayatollah said he was not "overly optimistic" that signing a nuclear treaty with the West would be sufficient to distract attention from the President's Obamacare woes, but, he added, "You never know. Every little bit helps."

He said that he and Iran's leaders will be putting their heads together in the days and weeks ahead to see "if there's anything else we can do to help Obama out of this health-care mess."

"One idea we're tossing around is to get the Iranian people to stop chanting, 'Death to America,' the way they have for the past thirty-four years," he said. "At the very least, maybe dial it back until he gets that Web site straightened out."