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Iran Nuclear Charades in Vienna

(Forbes) Claudia Rosett - When the latest round in the Iran nuclear talks, held this week in Vienna, wrapped up on Thursday, after three days of secret conclaves, the only clearcut "progress" the diplomats had to report was that they had agreed on a schedule and "framework" to do more talking. As things now stand, what are the benefits of this process for America and its allies? Well, there's a temporary pause in some aspects of Iran's nuclear weapons program, but nothing to really impede Iran rolling forward again, should its rulers so choose. There's also the pleasure of imagining that Iran's aging Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, having presided for decades over Iran's quest for the ultimate weapon, might decide he'd prefer to be remembered as the ayatollah who surrendered his nuclear ambitions to Catherine Ashton and Wendy Sherman. What now appears to be playing out at the bargaining table is a potentially protracted, ill-defined gamble, led by the EU and the U.S., that Iran is ready to be talked out of its nuclear program. The model that comes to mind is North Korea. The pattern there was one of procedural triumphs, announced as progress, only to be followed by Pyongyang's reneging, cheating, pocketing the gains and concessions won at the bargaining table, and walking away. The writer is journalist-in-residence with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
2014-02-21 00:00:00
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