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Why Iran's Nuclear Advances Make a Deal Harder This Time
(Wall Street Journal) Laurence Norman - As the U.S. prepares to negotiate new curbs on Iran's nuclear ambitions, it faces a challenge: Much of the progress Iran has made in its nuclear work since the 2015 nuclear deal will be difficult to reverse. The Trump administration is calling for a complete dismantling of Iran's nuclear program, going further than the 2015 agreement negotiated by the Obama administration, which placed temporary restrictions on Iran's nuclear work. Iran in the past decade has moved close to being able to build a nuclear weapon, according to Western officials. It has also massively upgraded its enrichment program. Even if Iran agrees to scale back some of that work, it has gained vital nuclear know-how that can't be unwound, the officials say. Iran is now adept at producing and setting-up faster centrifuges that spin uranium to higher enrichment levels. The basic timeline at the heart of the 2015 deal - keeping Iran 12 months away from being able to produce enough fissile material for one nuclear weapon - will be very hard to replicate, barring a complete dismantlement of all its enrichment facilities.