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Fatal Flaws of the Iran Deal

(National Interest) Zalmay Khalilzad - Iran has been pursuing civilian nuclear power to acquire the capability for nuclear weapons. Although Iran has signed the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which requires a commitment not to seek nuclear weapons, it is clear that Iran has had a clandestine nuclear weapons program, and that it has been and might still be working on nuclear weapons design at undeclared and dedicated facilities. Using the so-called fatwa by Iran's Supreme Leader Khamenei as an indicator of Iran's true intentions is a mistake. Doctrinally, Iranians are allowed to dissimulate to mislead and reassure their enemies in order to surprise and defeat them. There is nothing to prevent Khamenei or his successor from issuing a new fatwa after the acquisition of nuclear weapons, declaring this a great victory against "domineering powers who want to keep Muslims down" and blessing it. The president ought not reference a fatwa issued by a hostile leader whose regime has a long record of deception and evasion. The president is counting on the efficacy of inspections - believing that Iranian efforts to cheat or deceive will be discovered and exposed in a timely manner. But Iran may already have built another facility producing highly enriched uranium or plutonium underground in a remote part of Iran without our knowledge. It would be prudent to have more modest expectations from inspections, especially when dealing with a determined and sophisticated country. The writer, a Counselor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), was a former U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and the UN.
2015-04-06 00:00:00
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