Cautiously optimistic, meet hesitantly hopeful. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has long been concerned about Iran’s nuclear program, but on Wednesday he said he thinks the world powers are “very close” to a good deal on Iran’s nuclear program. But it remains to be seen if the US and others will wait for that deal.
According to a US State Department transcript of comments made with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Netanyahu defined a good deal as ending Iran’s nuclear fuel enrichment and plutonium heavy water capability, both of which can produce the fuel needed for nuclear weapons.
Both he and Kerry said no deal with Iran is better than a bad deal. But Kerry didn’t define a good deal as specifically as Netanyahu did. He said Iran must take actions that make it “crystal clear, undeniably clear, failsafe to the world” that their nuclear program is peaceful.
To that end, Kerry said Iran must “live up to the standards that other nations that have nuclear programs live up to as they prove that those programs are indeed peaceful.” While that sounds nice, the lack of details implies the US may be open to a weaker deal than Israel is hoping for.
That would be bad for you, since North Korea has already proven that a less stringent deal can be broken secretly. Israel is afraid, and rightly so, that Iran could accept a watered-down nuclear deal and because of that still be able to develop nuclear weapons covertly later.
Netanyahu said the tough global sanctions have driven Iran to become more open to discussing their nuclear program, hence his hope a deal could happen. But all that hope won’t mean anything if the world powers cave before Iran does.
(By Joshua Spurlock, www.themideastupdate.com, October 23, 2013)