Iran Fail

So much for the U.S. slowing down Iran's drive for nuclear weapons:

But the European and American officials said that Iran refused to go along with the one feature of the draft agreement that could undermine Tehran’s ability to build a nuclear weapon. That provision would have required the country to give up custody, temporarily, of about three-quarters of its current known stockpile of low-enriched uranium, leaving it without enough to manufacture a weapon. American officials said they thought that would give them a year or so to seek a broader nuclear agreement with Iran, one that could address Iran’s continued enrichment of nuclear fuel.

A senior European official characterized the Iranian response as “basically a refusal.” The Iranians, he said, want to keep all their lightly enriched uranium in the country until the I.A.E.A. provides the fuel assemblies of fuel for the reactor in Tehran, produced and fabricated from foreign uranium.

Only then do the Iranians say that they would be willing to export their own lightly enriched uranium. “So it’s all virtual,” the official said.

“The key issue is that Iran does not agree to export its lightly enriched uranium,” he said. “That’s not a minor detail. That’s the whole point of the deal.”

The question is going to quickly turn to sanctions - how biting and will Russia and China play ball? (Me, I say not biting enough and no.)

This is also, I suspect, going to be twisted into a referendum on the efficacy of diplomacy and engagement - which is silly. Making countries do what they do not want to do is a difficult business absent overwhelming leverage.

(AP Photos)