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Sanctions Against Iran Grow Tighter, But What's the Next Step?
(New York Times) Helene Cooper - As the Obama administration and its European allies toughened economic sanctions against Iran on Monday, officials acknowledge that effort has only a limited chance of persuading Tehran to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Several American and European officials say privately that the most attainable outcome for the West could be for Iran to maintain the knowledge and technology necessary to build a nuclear weapon while stopping short of doing so. But Iran would first have to demonstrate that it could be trusted and drop its veil of secrecy so that inspectors could verify that its nuclear work was peaceful, steps Iran has resisted. Japan has the capability to become an atomic power virtually overnight, but has rejected taking the final steps to possessing nuclear weapons. "If you're asking whether we would be satisfied with Iran becoming Japan, then the answer is a qualified yes," a senior European diplomat said. "But it would have to be verifiable, and we are a long ways away from trusting the regime." And settling for an Iranian state that could quickly produce a nuclear weapon would be hard for the United States to embrace.