The Devil is in the Deal

by Boaz Bismuth

The only thing left was to iron out the differences on the language of the deal -- that is what the sources kept feeding us, the flocks of journalists who had descended on Geneva for the farcical nuclear talks. The Iranians insisted that any interim deal must recognize their right to enrich uranium, even if the level of purity would be capped at 5%. 

The most the West was willing to offer was to silently acknowledge this right by mentioning Article IV of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty; although there are so many problematic aspects in Iran's nuclear program, the world chose to focus on the language of the agreement. 

The past four days could serve as a teachable moment, on four different dimensions. First, the sanctions may have worked, but they apparently fell short because Iran has yet to buckle. This is the only reason why Iran was not willing to fully accept the West's demands. 

Second, Iran's civilian nuclear program is not really designed to serve civilian purposes. Otherwise the Iranians would have not been so stringent in their demands. Why did Iran want to enrich uranium, or build a plutonium-producing heavy water reactor in Arak or limit the scope of inspections? There is only one explanation for that -- they want a nuclear bomb.

Third, the smiling Iranian delegation was not authorized to talk about ending the nuclear program. Its mission was limited to getting sanction relief, nothing more. 

Fourth, ratcheting up the pressure on Iran would have forced Iran to accept the West's demands and fully dismantle its nuclear program. That would have been the only course of action that could have effected such a change. 

Fifth, the world subscribes to hypocrisy when it comes to Israel. (That is hardly a new phenomenon.) It was business as usual on Wednesdays; the Western negotiators continued smiling at their Iranian counterparts, just hours after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei talked about Israel being wiped off the map. (How? Through the use of the Iranian nuclear program? He did not specify.) The Western negotiators should have scorned the Iranians, faulting them for what their leader had said. But they stayed silent.

Sixth, the difficulties encountered on the way to the agreement show that the contours from two weeks ago were more than bad, they were terrible. Just imagine what would have happened if France had not slammed the brakes during the first round of talks? After meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif and European foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton on Saturday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry left for the Geneva city center to buy chocolate for his wife. It is a pity he didn't buy Iran a clock that would show the approaching deadline for the talks. 

The Geneva talks prove one thing: Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was right all along: the whole world has been fooled by Iran. The Islamic republic, using both smiles and curses, misled the powers. The Geneva talks could qualify as a Shakespearean tragedy, but even Monty Python would have had a field day with all of this.



Boaz Bismuth

Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=6431

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