The U.S. has lost its battle to stop the hard-line Iranian Islamist regime from acquiring nuclear weapons; the Potemkin village display, masquerading as negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, is now ready for public adoration. Secretary of State John Kerry is traveling to Geneva to meet with Iran’s Foreign Minister Javad Zarif to help seal the deal.
A senior American official and Zarif agreed that a deal could be signed on Friday; Zarif told NBC News that a “first step” in a deal could be imminent. One U.S. official already indicated that the U.S. is caving; he admitted that there could be “very limited, temporary and reversible” relief from economic sanctions before Iran is even forced to strike a comprehensive deal.
Iran has trying to enrich uranium to 20 percent purity, building more advanced centrifuges, stonewalling inspections of its nuclear sites, and constructing the Arak heavy water reactor, which could be make a nuclear bomb, but Zarif said confidently that Iran would never agree to eradicate its nuclear program. He said that Iran might allow greater transparency in inspections.
Having won the U.S. over to softening sanctions, Zarif was magnanimous in victory. He said, “I think the outline of a deal can be written down easily. The details of the first step can also be written down. It has been within reach for many days now. But the details of the first step may be a bit more difficult, but I think serious negotiations over several hours can do the job.”
Of course, he had to pretend hardliners in Iran would be disappointed, and cleverly equated them with Americans fearful of a nuclear Iran, saying there would be fallout from hardliners on both sides. But he managed to execute the necessary obsequiousness toward Barack Obama, his partner in the deal, asking him to show “the courage and leadership that is required to resolve this issue. What we want to see from President Obama is the courage and leadership that is required to resolve this issue. I can tell him that the resolution is at hand — it’s reachable. We can have an agreement.”
Just to hammer home how clearly the Obama Administration has failed with Islamic countries’ nuclear proliferation, a new report from Nato reveals that Saudi Arabia is about to receive nuclear weapons from Pakistan. Not only is that becoming a reality, but Saudi Arabia told Washington in 2009 of its intent to acquire the weapons. Saudi King Abdullah told Dennis Ross, a U.S. special envoy, that if Iran developed the weapons, “we will get nuclear weapons,” too.
Israel had warned of this; Israeli Military Intelligence Directorate head Amos Yadlin said that if Iran obtained the weapons capability, “the Saudis will not wait one month. They already paid for the bomb, they will go to Pakistan and bring what they need to bring.”