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Holding Iran's Feet to the Fire

(U.S. News) - Mortimer B. Zuckerman Washington has looked to the IAEA to condemn Iran and trigger a UN Security Council resolution of condemnation and sanctions. To circumvent this, Iran did its deal with the foreign ministers of Britain, France, and Germany, whereby it signed up for a tougher inspection program and agreed to "suspend" the enrichment of uranium. Yet the agreement is full of holes, imposing no schedules or deadlines, as the chief of Iran's national security council glibly admitted. To test this new agreement, first, Iran must hand over to the UN's nuclear watchdog agency a complete, nondoctored account of all of its nuclear activities over the past several years. Second, it must adhere to a tight schedule on the promises it has made in the accord. Third, it must be held to a precise definition of every obligation it has undertaken. Last, inspection and monitoring must be unconditional and implemented quickly. If these steps are not taken, America will face the same situation in Iran we face now with North Korea. It agreed to suspend all its nuclear activities, then promptly began concealing its work building bombs. It's bad enough to make a big mistake once. We don't have to follow it with an encore.
2003-11-10 00:00:00
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