[Washington Times] Kaveh L. Afrasiabi - On the surface, President Obama seized on the disclosure about a second uranium-enrichment plant in Qom to mount new pressure on Iran. Yet the disclosure about the "hidden site" provides leverage for Iran. It shows that it is now harder for the military option to achieve its objectives and that Iran can just as easily construct multiple similar sites. Furthermore, Iran's move has channeled focus to the transparency issue instead of the tougher subject of outright suspension of enrichment. Of course, none of Iran's maneuvers may save it from the wrath of tougher sanctions in case the talks fail. But for now, Tehran relishes the fact that it has upstaged its rival diplomatically through a brilliant move that has advanced its chess pieces in the pretalk game. The writer is a former adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiation team (2004-05).
2009-10-06 08:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive