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Iran's Strategy to Develop Nuclear Weapons

(Gatestone Institute) Harold Rhode and Joseph Raskas - The Persians seem to have perfected the art of deception. In Persian, taqiyah means dissimulation, while ketman means paying lip service to someone in a position of authority while disagreeing with what they are saying. Both methods consist of telling someone who might harm you what you think they want to hear. Iran's president, Hassan Rouhani, is likely wielding this strategy against President Obama and the other European leaders, with whom Iran is "negotiating" over its nuclear program, lulling their opponents into a false sense of complacency. This is especially clear from the way Rouhani constantly talks about the chances of success for the negotiations, while at the same time setting demands which the West cannot tolerate. If things go as the Iranians plan, Iran will have the time it needs to acquire nuclear capability. In the meantime, the Iranians have extracted substantial, irreversible concessions from the West in exchange for illusory, reversible limits on its nuclear program. President Obama has emphatically repeated that Iran will not be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon on his watch. Indeed, the president has said, "all options are on the table," including the "military component." But any threat of military force is credible only if the opposing party believes it is. While some cultures stab their enemies in the back, the Iranians stab their enemies in the stomach. With a straight face, the Iranians have looked the West in the eye and effectively said: Hey, you don't mind if we enrich while you talk, do you? Dr. Harold Rhode served in the Office of the U.S. Secretary of Defense and as advisor on Islamic affairs on the Pentagon's policy planning staff. Joseph Raskas is a graduate student at George Washington University.
2014-05-29 00:00:00
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