{"id":263609,"date":"2022-09-10T14:35:54","date_gmt":"2022-09-10T12:35:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=263609"},"modified":"2023-02-06T19:09:11","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T18:09:11","slug":"are-western-powers-finally-reaching-the-limit-of-patience-with-irans-nuclear-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/blog\/op-ed\/are-western-powers-finally-reaching-the-limit-of-patience-with-irans-nuclear-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Are Western Powers Finally Reaching the Limit of Patience With Iran\u2019s Nuclear Strategy?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Arak
Arak Heavy Water Reactor Facility<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last month, the Iranian regime offered its response to what the European Union<\/a> had described as the \u201cfinal text\u201d of an agreement to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal and it immediately became clear that the negotiating process was nowhere near the breakthrough anticipated by the EU, the US and the three European signatories of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Tehran\u2019s public comments on the matter explicitly revealed a desire for further changes, despite EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell having previously stated that all opportunities for compromise had been exhausted by the previous 17 months of negotiations.<\/p>\n

Iran\u2019s Foreign Ministry even went so far as to predict that negotiations would open back up in Vienna and then stretch on through much of September, if not beyond. This is deeply ironic in light of the fact that the Vienna talks were previously paused for months at a time because of Tehran\u2019s own refusal to send its representatives to the Austrian capital.<\/p>\n

Once they did, Tehran once again seized an opportunity to prolong the gap, reiterated each of its outstanding demands,<\/a> and publicly declared that Iranian negotiators would only return to Vienna in order to conclude a final agreement that reflected those demands.<\/p>\n

Of course, no such agreement was forthcoming. And although Western policymakers have been rightly criticized in the past for appeasing the Iranian regime, no such agreement is likely to ever be achieved. Members of both political parties<\/a> in the US have made it abundantly clear throughout the process that they will block any White House efforts to implement a deal that removes the IRGC\u2019s terrorist designation. The executives in Britain, France, and Germany have faced similar pressure to at least some degree, so full-scale capitulation to Iran\u2019s ultimatum was never a viable option, even if negotiators were willing to go that far.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, no one can say with certainty the Western leaders in charge of the negotiating process would not do so. The very fact that that process is still ongoing after 18 months is a testament to their excessive commitment and their excessive credulity when it comes to the Iranian regime\u2019s intentions. Tehran continues to be treated as a good faith actor, despite a constant accumulation of evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n

The latest such evidence comes in the form of a new report by the International Atomic Energy Agency, which finds that Iran\u2019s stockpile of 60-percent enriched<\/a> uranium has increased at least 29 percent since May, giving the country more than enough to produce a quantity of weapons-grade uranium that is sufficient for one nuclear weapon. This only confirms what several Iranian officials, including the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, said last month: that the regime already has the technical capability it would need to become a nuclear-armed state.<\/p>\n

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Fitting a Square Peg into a Round Hole with Iran Negotiations - April 2021<\/div><\/div>
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