(Atlantic) Robert Satloff - It is wholly false for advocates of the Iran nuclear deal to argue that the JCPOA has halted, frozen, or suspended Iran's nuclear-weapons program. Critical aspects of the program are moving ahead, deal or no deal. Two years into the agreement, Iran's relentless pursuit of more effective ballistic missiles - one leg of a nuclear-weapons program - underscores its strategic decision to pursue the weapons option. One of the biggest flaws in the JCPOA was the expiration of all restrictions on Iran's enrichment of nuclear material 15 years into the agreement. To be sure, Iran argues that it remains forever bound by its commitment not to produce a nuclear weapon under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. But if anyone believed that promise, there would have been little reason to negotiate the JCPOA in the first place. The writer is executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
2017-10-16 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive