Sunday, April 20, 2014

Iran's clean profit

Boaz Bismuth

That is it. From the perspective of Ali Akbar Salehi, the man who was Iran's foreign minister under Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and currently presides over Iran's nuclear portfolio, the world can sleep quietly. A deal has been reached.
Does this mean Iran is dismantling its centrifuges? No need to exaggerate. On the contrary, their number is expected to increase. Hold on, it means the Arak heavy water reactor is shutting down? You've hit your head. There will only be a few cosmetic changes. Indeed, there will also be inspectors… as long as it suits Iran.

In other words, Iran will preserve for itself the two paths it has chosen that facilitate the acquisition of a nuclear bomb. And it will never give up. They have the uranium path (even though the interim deal in Geneva permitted enrichment at lower levels, it is nevertheless enrichment) and the plutonium path. The latter is also doable, because the demand to completely close the Arak facility also fell by the wayside. In short, if these details are indeed correct, Iran just got a great end of season price for this agreement.
Where is the international community's firm stance against a country with a collapsing economy?
We need to understand why all this is happening. More than the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to give milk. In other words, more than Iran wants a deal -- and it wants a deal -- the world wants to give Iran one so it won't have to do any dirty work. Iran wants to rehabilitate its economy, Iran wants to end its isolation, it wants cooperation with the West.
But along the way Iran also wants a bomb. Iran does not miss an opportunity to lie, as it did recently pertaining to its oil exports, but who is really bothered by this?

The Iranian story is far from over. Primarily, if, as Salehi informs us, they strike a "rich" deal.

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