Iran and nuclear compromise falsehoods

Noah Feldman, writing in the NY Times, puts the Iran nuclear issue in a funny little box:

So which script will play out, the threat of war or the dull hum of diplomats negotiating a modus vivendi that might someday be called peace? The answer lies in no small part with the Iranian government... If Iran is in fact close to developing functioning nuclear weapons, then it probably will not compromise... If, however, Iran’s leaders assess the difficulties of mastering centrifuge technology as a real barrier to gaining weapons, they might as well negotiate and try to get the best deal they can while the U.S. and Israel are worried about them.

Note how both scenarios are based on Iran seeking nuclear weapons? And how Iran's supposed "refusal to compromise" is merely proof of that? This is the usual propaganda tactic. The existence of a nuclear weapons program is treated as something to be taken for granted, as is the right of the US or Israel to go around bombing other people.

 Even the little public opinion poll on the left margin of the article is entitled "Bombing the Bomb Factories". And naturally when you pose a loaded question like that in a public opinion poll, a larger percentage of Americans will support bombing those mythical "bomb factories" in Iran. It's sort of like asking respondents "Do you support bombing invading Aliens from Mars who want to eat your brains and steal your women?" What are respondents going to say to that - No?

The irony is that Iran HAS compromised. Iran did suspend enrichment for 2 years during the Paris Agreement negotiations, and as Akbar Etemad pointed out in TIME, all that got the Iranians were heightened demands. And even after the Paris Agreement negotiations fell apart due to European mendacity, the Iranians again compromised by offering a two-year  "freeze for freeze" by which they would limit their nuclear program to a small-scale facility during the course of negotiations -- and that too was rejected by Rice who said that Iran should never have any enrichment at all, and put that as a precondition to all talks too.

Javad Zarif listed Iran's compromise offers in the International Herald Tribune -- all these generous offers by Iran exceed its legal obligations under international law. As I repeatedly mentioned before, the offer to operated Iran's nuclear program as joint ventures with foreign governments has been endorsed by US and international expert - as a way to address any REAL concerns about weapons proliferation -- but those offers haven't even been considered by Bush Co.

What is the logical conclusion of all this? Zarif himself said it best: alleged concerns about "nuclear weapons proliferation" and talk of "existential threats" are pretextual, ultimately intended to rob Iran of the right to have an independent acess to nuclear technology:

[W]e had a suspension for two years and on and off negotiations for three... Accusing Iran of having “the intention” of acquiring nuclear weapons has, since the early 1980s, been a tool used to deprive Iran of any nuclear technology, even a light water reactor or fuel for the American-built research reactor....the United States and EU3 never even took the trouble of studying various Iranian proposals: they were – from the very beginning – bent on abusing this Council and the threat of referral and sanctions as an instrument of pressure to compel Iran to abandon the exercise of its NPT guaranteed right to peaceful nuclear technology...

So, who is the one that is not compromising? And what are their real motivations? Feldman claims that the sabre rattling in Israel will ironically help peace -- of course, he doesn't mention that it will really help the reelection campaigns of Israeli politicians who need to manufacture a scary threat to themselves.

Comments

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The Zionists and the Imperial media with their shameful and deceitful tactics are brainwashing the public and preparing their minds for a large scale conflict. After the Iraq war and the lies that the media spread, I do not believe in anything that the Western media says. The job of the media is to facilitate the Imperial hegemony. Their pundits, commentators and experts twist the facts to fit and support their supposedly true and unbiased conclusions. In the case of Iran, their big lie is the Iranian expertise and knowledge in nuclear weapons. Iran is considered a threat to US, Europe and the whole world!!! While Israel with their huge inventory of nuclear weapons is not even on their radar screen!! The ONLY DEMOCRACY in Mid East has the RIGHT to obliterate Iran with nuclear weapons!! The West even approves and does not mind it. Cyrus, please help me. Who is and has been a bigger threat to peace: Israel-which has started countless bloody conflicts, or Iran-which has NEVER started a war in recent times??