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The Clocks Are Ticking on Iran

[Los Angeles Times] Doyle McManus - On Oct. 1, the U.S. and other great powers will restart talks with Iran, a new round in a long and so far fruitless effort to stop Tehran's march toward nuclear weapons. How will the U.S. and its allies make this round different? First, by insisting on action, not words. Iran will have to slow its work on nuclear technology in some tangible way. "The measure of [the negotiating process] is that it affects their nuclear clock," a top U.S. official told me. Second, the negotiators will set a deadline for Iranian action: the end of the year, with no wiggle room. "The end of the year means the end of the year," the official stressed. That remorseless nuclear clock is very much on the administration's mind. U.S. officials say they believe Iran could achieve "breakout capability" - the ability to quickly build a nuclear weapon - in one to three years. There's also an Israeli clock. When Iranian leaders say they'd like to remove Israel from the map, Israelis - a sensitive people when it comes to their existence - take it literally. The October talks are designed to enable the Western powers to start a clock of their own: action from Iran or else "crippling sanctions," in Secretary of State Clinton's words.
2009-09-25 08:00:00
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