![](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/10\/iran_nuclear_bomb-300x204.jpg\" "\\"iran_nuclear_bomb-300x204\\""){kind=spacer}
In the absence of a dramatic change in the Iranian regime\u2019s positions in talks on its nuclear program, President Obama should resist the temptation to make further concessions in order to complete a long-term deal by November, Washington Post editorial has urged.<\/p>\n
The editorial says \u201cIran should be offered, at best, an extension of the existing arrangement, with the current sanctions left in place \u2014 and threatened with tougher measures if it does not accept.\u201d<\/p>\n
U.S. officials had hoped that an intensive week of negotiations at the United Nations last month would open the way to a deal but, by the account of both sides, little headway was made. \u201cThe gaps are still serious,\u201d said a U.S. official briefing reporters at the end of the talks.<\/p>\n
According to The Washington Post, Tehran appears to be sticking to its insistence on maintaining and eventually vastly expanding its nuclear infrastructure while offering only a temporary slowdown in uranium enrichment and \u201cincreased transparency.\u201d It is refusing to discuss itsballistic missile program and still isn\u2019t cooperating with international inspectors\u2019 probe into its past nuclear weapons design work.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Obama administration has a history of responding to Iran\u2019s stonewalling by peeling away its own demands. It gave up an attempt to impose a permanent ban on Iranian enrichment and seems to have dropped a requirement that an underground uranium enrichment plant be closed. Now it seems to be contemplating scenarios under which Iran would not have to dismantle centrifuges that would be the center of any bomb-making effort.\u201d<\/p>\n
Washington Post editorial added: \u201cIn theory, a nuclear deal including this concession could still achieve the goal publicly set by Secretary of State John F. Kerry, which is to increase the time Iran would need to produce a bomb to six months to one year. However, by leaving the nuclear infrastructure intact, it would cede Iran the option of racing to build a nuclear arsenal at a time of its choosing, while removing the sanctions that are pressing the regime. Meanwhile, a concession already made by the United States and its allies \u2014 setting a date after which all restrictions on Iran\u2019s nuclear work would lapse \u2014 would create a time bomb for the Middle East. Neighbors such as Saudi Arabia would likely take such a date, whether it is five or 15 years away, as a deadline for creating their own capacity for building nuclear weapons.warns \u201ca concession already made by the United States and its allies \u2014 setting a date after which all restrictions on Iran\u2019s nuclear work would lapse \u2014 would create a time bomb for the Middle East. Neighbors such as Saudi Arabia would likely take such a date, whether it is five or 15 years away, as a deadline for creating their own capacity for building nuclear weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the absence of a dramatic change in the Iranian regime’s positions in talks on its nuclear program, President Obama should resist the temptation to make further concessions in order […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42257,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":["post-17302","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nuclear","tag-updated"],"yoast_head":"\n