It’s been more than ten days since “Implementation Day” for the Iran nuclear accord, the centerpiece of the Obama foreign policy in the Middle East. How’s it going? A few highlights:

— A new gold rush of Western, in particular European, companies eager to do business with Tehran is taking place. As the New York Times noted,  “The Danieli Group, a metal manufacturer, signed accords totaling 5.7 billion euros, or $6.2 billion, to build steel and aluminum plants in Iran… On Thursday, Mr. Rouhani is scheduled to meet with President François Hollande to sign a deal to buy more than 100 planes from Airbus, the European conglomerate… Siemens signed a preliminary agreement to provide $1.6 billion worth of transportation equipment, and Daimler said last week that it planned to produce trucks and engines with an Iranian partner and to open a company office in Iran by April.” CNN even has a cheery piece about how Iran could be “your next ski destination.”

Apparently none of these companies is troubled by the fact that Iran is the number one state sponsor of terror, a supporter of crimes against humanity in Syria, and a repressive regime that jails and kills its own citizens for political reasons.

— So eager are Westerners to court Iran that Italy’s government went so far as to cover up nude statues at a museum where Iranian President Hassan Rouhani met with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a decision that Italy’s culture minister denounced as “incomprehensible.”

— The Guardian Council has disqualified almost all of the “reformist” candidates from upcoming parliamentary elections, including Ayatollah Khameini’s grandson. So much for hopes that lifting sanctions would strengthen “reformers.”

— Iran also announced another Holocaust denial cartoon contest, with a top prize of $50,000 — that’s sanctions relief being put to use.

— Iran, along with Russia, continues to back Bashar Assad’s offensive against rebel fighters, who are being rolled back from critical areas. Iran also continues its aid to Shiite militias in Iraq, who are said to be “flush” with Iranian-supplied weapons and cash.

— Iran continues to wring every ounce of propaganda it can out of the humiliation of American sailors held on their knees at gunpoint by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps. Grand Ayatollah Ali Khameini tweeted his thanks to the IRGC: “God’s deed; IRGC’s timely job; Americans with hands on heads.”

— Oh, and lest we forget, an Iranian proxy group, most likely Asaib Ahl al-Haq, continues to hold hostage three American defense contractors who were kidnapped on Implementation Day in Baghdad. In the Washington Post, Michael Pregent and I pointed out how the administration is trying to obfuscate Iran’s role. But privately, it is clear, the administration knows exactly who is culpable. Why else would Secretary of State John Kerry ask Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to see if he could release the hostages? The Wall Street Journal quoted Kerry: “I asked him [Zarif]… if Iran knew any way to provide help or there were some ways they could have an impact on getting the right kind of outcome.”

No doubt Iran would be happy to help settle this little matter for the right price, which is likely to be high. The U.S. is, after all, suspected of paying $1.7 billion to Iran for the release of five other American hostages. But no doubt the administration will decide to pony up again, not only to get the hostages out but also because of fears that failure to propitiate the regime will embolden “hardliners” and hurt the “reformers.”

This is part of a recurring pattern: Iran commits violates international law in various ways (building nuclear weapons, taking hostages, sponsoring terrorist attacks); the U.S. blames these actions on “hardliners” and makes concessions to Iran that are supposed to strengthen “reformers.” From Iran’s standpoint the “hardliners” and “reformers” have a perfectly symbiotic relationship: The “reformers” collect the ransom for the “hardliners.” The payoff to this strategy for Iran is already in the billions of dollars and climbing, a certain guarantee that Iran will continue this protection racket indefinitely.