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Dubious Promises from Iran

(Washington Times) - Editorial Last week's announcement that Iran has vowed to suspend its effort to produce enriched uranium for nuclear weapons should be taken with a heavy dose of skepticism. Even if Iran formally agrees to do this, there is scant likelihood that the deal will do anything to dissuade the radical Islamic regime from its goal of obtaining nuclear weapons. The European deal with Iran will not prevent that government from building more centrifuges, which are needed to make weapons-grade uranium, and there is nothing in the agreement to prevent Iran from resuming uranium enrichment in the future. Gary Milhollin, director of the Wisconsin Project on Nuclear Arms Control, says the Iran deal buys time for a government that has no intention of halting its nuclear program. A more productive approach, Milhollin believes, would have Washington mobilize its Western European and Japanese allies to stop selling Iran dual-use items like machine tools, computers, and high-strength steel used to produce ballistic missiles unless Iran agrees to give international inspectors access sufficient to determine that it is really dismantling its nuclear weapons program. One thing should be crystal-clear when it comes to heading off this danger: Time is not on our side.
2003-10-30 00:00:00
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