From the The Israel Project for Wednesday, April 01, 2015
- Negotiations to achieve a framework agreement on Iran’s nuclear program will be extended until tomorrow, following several days of negotiations in which the P5+1 made several key concessions to Iran, while Iran backtracked from previous compromises and hardened its positions. The U.S. had set March 31st as the deadline for the release of a framework understanding, with June 30th as the final deadline for a detailed comprehensive agreement.
Although the P5+1 had demanded that the enrichment facility at Fordow be shut down, according to reports, they will now permit Iran to maintain almost 500 centrifuges there, which could be transformed to enrich uranium. This new development means that Iran can retain nuclear infrastructure at a highly fortified underground facility that is largely immune to attack. Furthermore, rather than insist that Iran reveal the potential military dimensions (PMDs) of its nuclear program as mandated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the P5+1 will reportedly allow Iran to continue to put off full disclosure of its PMDs until later, after considerable sanctions pressure has been lifted, a concession the Washington Post editorial board has labeled “a reward for Iran’s noncompliance.” Failing to address the potential military dimensions would undermine the IAEA’s ability to verify Iran’s nuclear program and calculate its breakout time.
Iran, on the other hand, is now refusing to ship out its enriched uranium, although it had previously successfully convinced the P5+1 to allow it to maintain a higher number of centrifuges on the assumption that it would be shipping out its enriched uranium. Last week, an Iranian official insisted that Iran would not allow snap inspections, although Iran had indicated in the past that they would consider such an arrangement. Additionally, today an Iranian general called Israel’s destruction “non-negotiable.”
Former Director General of the IAEA Olli Heinonen has challenged the Obama administration’s goal of extending Iran’s breakout time to one year. Heinonen has argued that not only would one year not be enough time to detect and respond to an Iranian attempt to break out, but given the amount of centrifuges the P5+1 have reportedly allowed Iran to keep, Iran’s breakout time would actually be closer to 7-8 months.
Bipartisan leaders in the Senate have indicated that if no framework understanding is agreed upon by the time they return from recess, they will introduce the Kirk-Menendez bill, which would increase economic pressure on Iran if there is no deal by July 6. If a framework understanding is produced, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) will introduce the Corker-Menendez bill, which calls for congressional review of any nuclear agreement with Iran. Congress has been increasingly critical of the concessions the P5+1 has made to Iran. Senator Bob Menendez (D-N.J.) wrote that he fears that “we are no longer guided by the principle that ‘no deal is better than a bad deal,’ but instead we are negotiating ‘any deal for a deal’s sake.’”
IF THE U.S. has no prestige. why is Obama seemingly leading the P5+1 as it caves to the ayatollahs? If not Obama, who?
- There will be "Peace for Our Time" (British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain in his speech concerning the Munich Agreement and the Anglo-German Declaration)
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it" (Jorge Agustín Nicolás Ruiz de Santayana y Borrás)
Some people (read Obama) either (a) don't know history, (b) ignore history, or (c) simply want the ayatollahs of Iran to prevail, disregarding his oath of office.
Each time Obama and friends cave to Iran, the ayatollahs redraw the "line in the sand," moving it always to their advantage, knowing Obama will acquiesce.
Like Abu Mazen, they take what they are offered and refuse to honor their promises. THIS it their idea of "negotiations," and Obama accepts their strategy.
Obama behaves as if he is an emperor rather than a lame duck politician, (Granted when congress was controlled by his Democrats, no challenge to his high handedness was successful; now the congress is in Republican hands and the political pendulum has swung to the other extreme - Obama's true legacy: extremism in Washington politics.)
If the world is fortunate, Obama will go down as one of America's most inept presidents. If the world is NOT fortunate, Obama will go down in an abbreviated history as the fool who let crazies have a bomb that destroyed much of the world.
They laughed, derided, and dismissed Sarah Palin for her lack of foreign experience, preferring instead a political novice with only city ward experience. Maybe the American liberals have learned their (political) lesson - but probably not.
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