Is Iran Ready for a Nuclear Deal?

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 Some See Iran as Ready for Nuclear Deal - New York Times [link]

  • “If the Iranian endgame is to keep enrichment, and if the United States’ endgame is to make sure there are no nuclear weapons in Iran, then it can be a win-win,” said Trita Parsi, author of a book on Iran and president of the National Iranian American Council, an independent advocacy group in Washington. 
  • Tehran knows that actually deploying a weapon could undermine its regional strength by driving smaller oil-rich neighbors to seek their own nuclear umbrella, presumably from the United States.
  • Rather, experts say, Iran’s intention all along was to strengthen its hand in dealing with the West, to achieve legitimacy, security and recognition of its leadership in the region. Iran’s meeting with the United States and Western powers in Geneva brought it within reach of those goals.

Pour un désarmement nucléaire mondial, seule réponse à la prolifération anarchique - Juppé, Norlain, Richard, et Rocard dans le Monde [link]

  • Click here for the English translation of "For Global Nuclear Disarmament, the Only Means to Prevent Anarchic Proliferation" by Former Prime Ministers Alain Juppe and Rocard, Former Defence Minister Alain Richard, and retired General Bernard Norlain.
  • La réussite de la non-prolifération est une nécessité première pour la paix, et elle repose sur des initiatives urgentes et beaucoup plus radicales des cinq puissances nucléaires reconnues par le traité de 1968. Elles doivent engager un processus conduisant de manière planifiée au désarmement complet, y associer pleinement les trois puissances nucléaires de fait, écarter tout projet de développement d'arme nouvelle, prendre plus d'initiatives et de risques politiques pour surmonter les crises régionales majeures.
  • Au nom de leur expérience de ce sujet, les signataires de la présente déclaration expriment le voeu que la France affirme résolument son engagement pour le succès de ce processus de désarmement.

Clinton Pushes for Russian Role in Missile Defense - Global Security Newswire [link]

  • "It would be in my view a very positive outcome if some day in the future you see the United States and Russia announcing a joint plan on missile defense," [Secretary of State Hillary] Clinton said in Moscow.
  • "The biggest immediate threat the world faces are nuclear weapons under the control of groups of people ... who believe that martyrdom or suicide attacks are a positive way to end one's life. That is not Russia and that is not the United States," she said.

 A View from the Dark Side

Cripple Iran to Save It - John Hannah in the Los Angeles Times [link]

  • A crucial question that policymakers must consider is whether such punitive measures would help or hinder the popular uprising against the Iranian regime that emerged after the country's fraudulent June 12 presidential elections.
  • [Millions of Iranians have gone to great lengths to] affix responsibility for their misery, shame, and danger… on the ruling regime itself... There's good reason to doubt they would react differently now were the United States and its partners to impose painful sanctions.
  • But a few Iranians -- especially in private -- suggest that a bombing campaign that spared civilians while destroying Iran's nuclear installations as well as targets associated with the regime's most repressive elements might well accelerate the theocracy's final unraveling…"