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Tehran Will Try to Drag Out Talks and Retain a Secret Nuclear Program
(Wall Street Journal) Editorial - Steve Witkoff, President Trump's lead negotiator on Iran, suggested that the U.S. goal in talks with Iran over its nuclear program will be, "there can't be weaponization of your nuclear capability." Iran will insist it is already meeting that "weaponization" standard because it hasn't built a bomb. If that's where talks end up, it won't be much better than Obama's 2015 deal. In that deal Iran retained its uranium enrichment capacity, refused inspections to key nuclear sites, and expanded its ballistic missile program. Ayatollah Khamenei's goal will be to get the same deal. That's why foreign-supervised dismantlement and intrusive, on-demand inspections are essential. A dismantlement deal is preferable to an attack on Iran that would have uncertain consequences, but the military destruction of most of Iran's program is better than a deal that leaves Iran able to build a bomb after it has had time to rebuild its military strength and proxy network.