Reuters recently reported that the Islamic Republic attempted in January to purchase a large amount of equipment for the enrichment of uranium—equipment prohibited to it by the terms of the 2013 interim nuclear deal. What does this say about the regime’s future conduct? Michael Makovsky and William Kristol write:
[G]iven this evidence of very recent Iranian behavior, how likely is it that [a final] deal will strengthen the forces of moderation in Iran, [as the White House repeatedly insists it will]? In fact, achieving a deal that amounts to a huge series of concessions by the West and that allows Iran to leave its nuclear infrastructure in place—a deal that legitimizes Iran as a nuclear threshold state—will have the opposite effect. It will leave the regime in Iran strengthened and emboldened. After all, to say nothing of other considerations, if there’s a deal, the regime will, thanks to the unfreezing of sanctioned assets, quickly receive a “signing bonus” of $30-50 billion . . . an immediate cash infusion equivalent to more than ten percent of Iran’s GDP.
Indeed, when pressed, even the Obama administration acknowledges that enriching the Islamic Republic of Iran may only accelerate its mischief-making.
More about: Barack Obama, Iran, Iran nuclear program, Politics & Current Affairs, U.S. Foreign policy