U.S. Military Action Won’t End Iran’s Nuclear Program

No good alternatives - “U.S President Barack Obama reached out to a skeptical Israeli public in an interview aired Monday saying that only an agreement, not military action, can prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” the AP reports. The president said that, “A military solution will not fix it. Even if the United States participates, it would temporarily slow down an Iranian nuclear program but it will not eliminate it."

--The president elaborated saying, “I can, I think, demonstrate, not based on any hope but on facts and evidence and analysis, that the best way to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon is a verifiable, tough agreement." Full story here. http://nyti.ms/1FSbSso

Tweet - @hdagres: Secretary Kerry is determined to return to #IranTalks with a cast and on crutches to seal #IranDeal http://bit.ly/1GVNLeE

Posturing - “Deal skeptics and supporters alike have raised a chorus of concerns over Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s recent public statements that Iran will not agree to inspections of its military facilities as part of an agreement,” writes Ilan Goldenberg for War on the Rocks. “Those concerns are overblown and it would be a grave error to let Khamenei’s statements knock the deal off track.”

--“A short review of some of the supreme leader’s previous public comments shows that his statements have never been a good indicator of what is actually going on in the negotiations. If they were, the United States and Iran would have never gotten this far in the first place.” Read the full piece here. http://bit.ly/1KAS2TB

Compromise - Iranian diplomats have said they are willing to explore alternative solutions to Western demands that it “allow U.N. inspectors access to its military sites and to interview its nuclear scientists,” reports Reuters. “We have decided to discuss other solutions to resolve this issue” Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Zarif said after meeting with his U.S. counterpart John Kerry on Saturday. Full story here. http://reut.rs/1M0KIRF

Tweet - @ArmsControlNow: "The Disarmament Deficit." @DarylGKimball reviews #NPT2015 & ways forward in #ArmsControlToday http://bit.ly/1KI1vvI

Quick Hit:

--“Battlefield Nukes Won't Save Pakistan,” by Saira Bano in The National Interest. http://bit.ly/1cvthMR

Events:

--“70th Anniversary of the Manhattan Project” event from the Atomic Heritage Foundation featuring remarks from Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Patrick Gregerson, Alex Wellerstein, Denise Kiernan, Robert Norris, Richard Rhodes and many more. June 2-3. RSVP and full agenda here. http://bit.ly/1Q8oIFE

--“Weighing Concerns and Assurances about a Nuclear Deal with Iran” New report launch from the Iran Project, featuring Amb. Thomas Pickering, Jessica T. Mathews, Gen. James Cartwright and Gary Samore. June 3rd from 12:00-1:00pm at the Wilson Center. http://bit.ly/1SAh2Qx

--“The Strategic Implications of the Iran Nuclear Deal” featuring Mark Fitzpatrick and Trita Parsi. June 4th from 10:00-11:00am at IISS. http://bit.ly/1KkywdY

--Ploughshares Fund annual gala featuring Reza Aslan, Barbara Slavin and Gen. James Cartwright. June 8th from 6:00-8:30pm in San Francisco. RSVP here. http://bit.ly/1LI0ssx

Dessert:

The War Game- Matthew Gault of War is Boring recounts the controversial history of a BBC documentary on the effects of a nuclear war in Britain. The War Game dramatized the horrific aftermath of a nuclear exchange, and so unsettled BBC executives that it was never released.

--“Despite its never having a full theatrical release and despite it being fiction,The War Game won an Oscar for best documentary film in 1965,” notes Gault. http://bit.ly/1Q3a1Jb