(National Review) Ray Takeyh - The Trump administration will not be able to negotiate a new nuclear agreement with Iran. And should the Democrats reclaim the White House, they will not be able to revive the old one. This is the result of the ascendance of Islamist hardliners and scientists who are more interested in the bomb than in another accord with America. Two key factors made the Iran nuclear deal possible. The first was an Iranian president who believed that the key to his country's economic fortunes was an agreement that would pave the way for foreign investments. The second was the willingness of folks at the Iranian Atomic Energy Organization to accept restrictions on the program. Neither factor is present today or likely to recur. In today's Iran, neither the political class nor the scientific establishment wants a new nuclear agreement. Ali Akbar Salehi, head of the Atomic Energy Organization, is on the verge of modernizing a nuclear infrastructure that can produce bombs quickly and, he hopes, without getting detected. This means he will not yield to any proposed restrictions. The Iranian-born writer is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
2020-03-26 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive