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The Flawed Nuclear Deal Again Takes Center Stage

(The Times-UK) Roger Boyes - One of the things to trickle out of Monday's NATO summit was the U.S. president's determination to use the short window between Iran's presidential election on Friday and the actual inauguration of the new leader in August to agree to a more enduring nuclear compact. Biden wants U.S.-led statecraft on Iran to be a quick win, rather than let the issues fester through his presidency. For Iran, an accelerated deal might be acceptable if it leads to a complete removal of sanctions. The bargain could be struck by Iranian experts associated with the outgoing regime of Hassan Rouhani, and his successor would reap the benefit without necessarily taking ownership of it. He would, in other words, have a free hand to lie and cheat and press ahead with clandestine development of a military nuclear program. The new nuclear deal, if it comes, will be based on the same illusions as the first one: that on the back of an internationally brokered agreement Iran will not only give up its plans for a nuclear bomb but stop its malign interventions abroad. Iran gets 60 mentions in the latest annual threat report of the U.S. directorate of national intelligence. It is moving toward full domination of Iraq just as soon as U.S. troops withdraw. A Revolutionary Guard officer rules like a Roman consul from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. Even a modified Iran deal won't be able to persuade Israelis that Biden has their backs.
2021-06-17 00:00:00
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