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Iran's Nuclear Games Demand a Tougher U.S. Approach
(Washington Post) Dennis Ross and David Makovsky - While the Iranians install the next generation of centrifuges that can produce enriched uranium three to four times faster than before, the P5+1 negotiations on Iran's nuclear program have ground once again to a halt. While economic pressures impose a cost on Iran, so far they have failed to alter its nuclear program. In light of President Obama's objective of preventing the Iranians from acquiring nuclear weapons, at a minimum, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must be made to feel that the U.S. means it when it says the time for diplomacy is running out - and that the consequence is likely to be the use of force. The U.S. needs to shift its negotiating strategy away from the "step-by-step" approach - which only deepens Iranian perceptions that they can string us along until we acquiesce. Instead, the U.S. needs to establish greater clarity about what we can and cannot live with regarding Iran's nuclear program. This new approach would involve defining an acceptable civil nuclear capability for Iran. It could mean accepting limited enrichment but with strict and verifiable restrictions. This would prevent Iran from being able to break out and present the world with a nuclear weapons fait accompli. Were Iranian leaders to turn down the opportunity to have civil nuclear capability, their real aims of acquiring nuclear weapons would be revealed. In such circumstances, the U.S. would be far better positioned to make the case to the international community that military action is warranted. Dennis Ross, a counselor at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, was a senior Middle East adviser to President Obama from 2009 to 2011. David Makovsky is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute.