'America has proposed a short-term nuclear agreement with Iran at a meeting in Geneva which would allow Tehran to continue enriching uranium at low levels, according to an aide briefed on the talks.
The goal is to freeze Iran’s nuclear programme for perhaps six months in order to create a breathing space for a comprehensive agreement to be negotiated.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, will travel to Switzerland on Friday to join the talks, fuelling hopes a historic deal may be in sight.
Mr Kerry will go to Geneva “in an effort to help narrow differences in negotiations”, said a senior State Department official.
But Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, warned on Thursday that any deal which failed to stop Iran from enriching uranium would be a “mistake of historic proportions”.... 'See also here.
Warns the Washington-based Emergency Committee for Israel:
"This looks to be a very bad deal. The Iranian regime would obtain major sanctions relief in exchange for token and superficial concessions that neither freeze nor set back its nuclear weapons program. The deal would vitiate nearly a decade of UN Security Council resolutions demanding the full cessation of enrichment by Iran. The deal would allow Iran to continue enrichment, to continue construction of its plutonium reactor, and to continue building centrifuges that will shorten the regime's breakout time to becoming a nuclear weapons state. Furthermore, such an interim deal would invite Iran to drag out talks while enrichment proceeds, which is something President Rouhani has boasted of doing in the past.
We oppose such a deal, which would make war and nuclear proliferation in the Middle East more likely and would undermine U.S. security by making the world a more dangerous place. Friends and enemies alike would now be convinced that the administration’s past guarantees were empty promises, its past red lines written in disappearing ink. If the administration announces such a deal, Congress should take all appropriate measures to oppose it and ratchet up sanctions. And Congress should also make it clear that the United States will stand with our ally, Israel, if she judges it necessary to act to prevent the Iranian regime from acquiring nuclear weapons."How hollow now seem Obama's remarks in an interview with Jeffrey Goldberg in March last year:
".... I think that the Israeli government recognizes that, as president of the United States, I don't bluff.... I think both the Iranian and the Israeli governments recognize that when the United States says it is unacceptable for Iran to have a nuclear weapon, we mean what we say. Let me describe very specifically why this is important to us.
In addition to the profound threat that it poses to Israel, one of our strongest allies in the world; in addition to the outrageous language that has been directed toward Israel by the leaders of the Iranian government -- if Iran gets a nuclear weapon, this would run completely contrary to my policies of nonproliferation. The risks of an Iranian nuclear weapon falling into the hands of terrorist organizations are profound. It is almost certain that other players in the region would feel it necessary to get their own nuclear weapons. So now you have the prospect of a nuclear arms race in the most volatile region in the world, one that is rife with unstable governments and sectarian tensions. And it would also provide Iran the additional capability to sponsor and protect its proxies in carrying out terrorist attacks, because they are less fearful of retaliation...."
Meanwhile, as reported here, in Teheran a video has been aired simulating a nuclear attack on Israel:
It seems that even offering the Iranians more than their initial demands has hit a snag. Obama is offering to let them keep all their enriched fuel, keep their plutonium reactor online, have no limits on the number of centrifuges they have and all they have to do is limit a part of their enrichment to 3.5% in exchange for releasing many of the sanctions Obama is already turning a blind eye - ALL without any required verification. This was Obama's 'pre-offer' as a precursor to a different negotiations down the road. The Iranians said no.
ReplyDeleteAnyone can see this whole thing is a stage play put on for our benefit. Obama is running out the clock and knows that Iran has got to already be a nuclear armed state.