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It Might Not Be So Easy to Reboot the Iran Deal

(National Interest) Dov S. Zakheim - The notion that the original deal with Iran was somehow a great accomplishment because it delayed the time frame within which Iran could fashion a nuclear weapon from a few months to an estimated year was fanciful at best. A year can pass very quickly, and the difference of a few months might prove to be no difference at all, given uncertainties surrounding what exactly Tehran was up to, and the reluctance of the West to go to war. Were the West truly able to detect Iranian activity, it could act within the few months it would take Iran to build a bomb in defiance of the deal. Many who opposed the deal felt that once America signed the agreement it should not withdraw from it in order not to undermine its credibility as a reliable interlocutor. However, having abandoned the deal, returning to it is an entirely different proposition. The Biden Administration must be wary of making any gestures that the Ayatollahs could pocket without giving anything in return. Washington should not do away with any sanctions unless Iran reciprocates in some fashion. The writer served as the undersecretary of defense (comptroller) and chief financial officer for the U.S. Department of Defense (2001-2004).
2021-01-28 00:00:00
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