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Source: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/7a4e2878-a73e-11dc-a25a-0000779fd2ac.html
The Myth of a Bargain with Iran
[Financial Times-UK] Gideon Rachman - First, America's intelligence reassessment will probably be a boon to hardliners in Tehran. Ahmadinejad will be able to say that Iran has stood firm and faced down the world. In such a climate, why should the Iranians make concessions? Second, there may be no "grand bargain" to be had. Most of the evidence suggests that the determination to get a nuclear bomb is a national project in Iran - uniting different political factions. The Iranians are not necessarily in a hurry, but the nuclear program has become a symbol of national machismo. Iran also has ambitions in the region. It is the biggest country in the Gulf area and it wants its "natural role" to be recognized. Yet there is no way the Americans are going to cede the dominant security role in the Gulf - a region that sits on top of 60% of the world's known oil reserves and 40% of its natural gas.