For John, BLUF: Is this change you can believe in in Iran? Nothing to see here; just move along.
Back behind the pay wall of The Wall Street Journal is a Friday article by Reporter Farnaz Fassihi, titled "Nuclear Talks Divide Hard-Liners in Iran". We have good reason to be dubious about Iran's intentions. Our friends in Israel and Saudi Arabia encourage us to be dubious. However, in the article is this paragraph:
Worshipers in Isfahan were stunned during Friday prayers in early October when a hard-line cleric said, "Death to America isn't a verse of the Quran that we have to say forever," according to Iranian media reports.So we have:
- Hard-line Cleric
- Iranian media reports
The article says that conservatives in Iran will be challenged by a change in emphasis and negotiating position. I wonder what makes them "conservative"? Is it that they are against change with regard to their nuclear plans? What if the same folks are against capitalism and believe in socialism?
Regards — Cliff
1 comment:
As a non-nuclear state party to the (NPT), Iran owes a legal duty to the international community to refrain from manufacturing and acquiring nuclear weapons. These obligations are interpreted by the NPT’s enforcement agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to also require states to provide credible assurance regarding non-diversion of nuclear material and the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities. Iran’s systematic violations of the NPT are well documented. Despite Iran’s insistence that its nuclear program is exclusively for peaceful purposes, the evidence shows beyond a reasonable doubt that Iran’s nuclear work is not consistent with any other application than the development of a nuclear weapon. Iran continues to conceal its nuclear program and conduct enrichment-related activities, in violation of the NPT, the IAEA Safeguards Agreement, all subsequent IAEA Safeguards Resolutions, and numerous United Nations Security Council Resolutions. Iran, therefore, needs to be held accountable to the terms of the NPT and sanctions shouldn’t be lifted simply based on promises, but on concrete action.
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