The United States and five major world powers agreed Thursday to offer Iran "far-reaching proposals" that would "bring significant benefits" if it halts its drive to master nuclear power, but also threatened "further steps in the Security Council" if Iran refused to enter negotiations.
While details of the package were not announced, the incentives appeared to include an international effort to assist Iran's nuclear industry, including guarantees of long-term fuel assurances -- a significant shift of the Bush administration's long insistence that Iran had no need for nuclear power.
But aides to Rice said the deal also commits China and Russia, two skeptics of sanctions, to a long list of specific steps to punish Iran if it refuses to halt its enrichment program. The possible sanctions are listed as a menu, ranging from minor to major, and there appeared to be no agreement yet on which options to choose if Iran failed to act.
I don't want to overplay this development(it's early yet)...but it is a significant accomplishment. One of the biggest problems we've had facing Iran is getting all the involved parties to agree on the same course of actions towards Iran. Bringing Russia and China onboard is a major coup, and it significantly narrows Iran's wiggle room.
Overall it looks like we're finally taking a smart approach to Iran; direct talks, an offer of definite benefits to Iran in exchange for it's program, and a significant measure of unity among the major powers involved. There's hope yet.
2 comments:
Iran has somehow always managed to humiliate the US. Since the hostage crisis in 1980, Iran has never bow to US. And US has not been able to win anything against the Mullahs of Iran. Iran calls US the Great Satan. It appears that on Wednesday the Great Satan bowed to axis of evil. Miss Condi Rice yesterday was seen bending before President Ahmadinejad. Basically she was saying, come on Ayatollah, come talk to me. It was a disgrace.
I think the idea that Iran should "bow to the US" is a problem. A nation's best interests do not coincide with avenging past humiliations. Germany proves that.
Be that as it may, this will be, as a matter of fact, a win for the US, as long as a diplomatic solution is reached. Actually, the fact that Iran is talking to the US is a win for us, because if they weren't willing to negotiate, they wouldn't be talking. And negotation means that for some reason, they actually aren't willing to simply do whatever they wish without regard to international opinion.
Of course we have two options besides negotiations: ignore them or take military action. Which one would you advocate? If we ignore them, Iran still gets what it wants. If we attack them, we'll lose, at least in the sense of forestalling future attacks, which is the point of the negotiations anyway. We probably wouldn't manage to damage their nuclear program anyway, so military operations are pretty much a waste. So what's your choice?
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