What a Surprise: U.S.-Based Iran \u201cExperts\u201d Promoting Israeli Policy
\nby Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett – 29 October, 2013<\/p>\n
As the new round of nuclear diplomacy between the Islamic Republic and the P5+1 unfolds, an informal coalition of forces is coalescing in the West to oppose any prospective deal in which the United States would \u201caccept\u201d safeguarded uranium enrichment in Iran. Of course, Israel and the pro-Israel lobby are at the heart of this coalition. Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu\u2019s remarks about the Iran nuclear talks on NBC\u2019s Meet the Press this past Sunday, see here, are emblematic of the \u201czero enrichment\u201d camp: <\/p>\n
\u201cThe question is not of hope; the question is of actual result. The test is the result. The result has to be the full dismantling of Iran\u2019s military nuclear program. If that is achieved, that would be very good. If it\u2019s achieved peacefully, it\u2019s even better\u2026I think the pressure has to be maintained on Iran, even increased on Iran, until it actually stops the nuclear program\u2014that is, dismantles it. I think that any partial deal could end up in dissolving the sanctions. There are a lot of countries waiting for a signal, just waiting for a signal, to get rid of their sanctions regime. And I think that you don\u2019t want to go through halfway measures\u2026 <\/p>\n
As far as the freezing of assets\u2014as far as I remember, those assets were frozen for three reasons: one, Iran\u2019s terrorist actions; two, its aggressive actions, particularly in the Gulf; and three, its continued refusal to stop the production of weapons of mass destruction. You know, if you get all three done, and they stop doing it\u2014well, then, I suppose you could unfreeze them\u2026Those sanctions weren\u2019t Israeli sanctions. I\u2019ve always advocated them, but the international community adopted very firm resolutions by the Security Council, and here\u2019s what those resolutions say: they said Iran should basically dismantle its centrifuges for enrichment (that\u2019s one path to get a nuclear weapon) and stop work on its plutonium heavy-water reactor (that\u2019s the other path for a nuclear weapon). <\/p>\n
It\u2019s very important to stress that it\u2019s for nuclear weapons. Nobody challenges Iran\u2019s or any country\u2019s pursuit of civilian nuclear energy. But seventeen countries in the world, including your neighbors Canada and Mexico, have very robust programs for civilian nuclear energy, and they don\u2019t enrich with centrifuges, and they don\u2019t have heavy water plutonium reactors. <\/p>\n
Here comes Iran and says, \u2018I want civilian nuclear energy.\u2019 I don\u2019t know why, because they have energy, with gas and oil, coming out of their ears for generations. But suppose you believe them. Then you ask, \u2018Why do you insist on maintaining a plutonium heavy water reactor, and on maintaining centrifuges that can only be used for making nuclear weapons?\u2019 And the answer is because they want to have residual capability to make nuclear weapons. And you don\u2019t want that, and UN resolutions don\u2019t want that, Security Council resolutions. And I propose sticking by that.\u201d <\/p>\n