Posted on 03/26/2015 4:24:13 PM PDT by xzins
LAUSSANE, Switzerland—The Obama administration is giving in to Iranian demands about the scope of its nuclear program as negotiators work to finalize a framework agreement in the coming days, according to sources familiar with the administration’s position in the negotiations.
U.S. negotiators are said to have given up ground on demands that Iran be forced to disclose the full range of its nuclear activities at the outset of a nuclear deal, a concession experts say would gut the verification the Obama administration has vowed would stand as the crux of a deal with Iran.
Until recently, the Obama administration had maintained that it would guarantee oversight on Tehran’s program well into the future, and that it would take the necessary steps to ensure that oversight would be effective. The issue has now emerged as a key sticking point in the talks.
Concern from sources familiar with U.S. concessions in the talks comes amid reports that Iran could be permitted to continue running nuclear centrifuges at an underground site once suspected of housing illicit activities.
This type of concession would allow Iran to continue work related to its nuclear weapons program, even under the eye of international inspectors. If Iran removes inspectors—as it has in the past—it would be left with a nuclear infrastructure immune from a strike by Western forces.
“Once again, in the face of Iran’s intransigence, the U.S. is leading an effort to cave even more toward Iran—this time by whitewashing Tehran’s decades of lying about nuclear weapons work and current lack of cooperation with the [International Atomic Energy Agency],” said one Western source briefed on the talks but who was not permitted to speak on record.
With the White House pressing to finalize a deal, U.S. diplomats have moved further away from their demands that Iran be subjected to oversight over its nuclear infrastructure.
“Instead of ensuring that Iran answers all the outstanding questions about the past and current military dimensions of their nuclear work in order to obtain sanctions relief, the U.S. is now revising down what they need to do,” said the source. “That is a terrible mistake—if we don’t have a baseline to judge their past work, we can’t tell if they are cheating in the future, and if they won’t answer now, before getting rewarded, why would they come clean in the future?”
The United States is now willing to let Iran keep many of its most controversial military sites closed to inspectors until international sanctions pressure has been lifted, according to sources.
This scenario has been criticized by nuclear experts, including David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security.
Albright told Congress in November that “a prerequisite for any comprehensive agreement is for the IAEA to know when Iran sought nuclear weapons, how far it got, what types it sought to develop, and how and where it did this work.”
“The IAEA needs a good baseline of Iran’s military nuclear activities, including the manufacturing of equipment for the program and any weaponization related studies, equipment, and locations,” Albright said.
One policy expert familiar with the concessions told the Washington Free Beacon that it would be difficult for the administration to justify greater concessions given the centrality of this issue in the broader debate.
“The Obama administration has gone all-in on the importance of verification,” said the source, who asked for anonymity because the administration has been known to retaliate against critics in the policy community. “But without knowing what the Iranians have it’s impossible for the IAEA to verify that they’ve given it up.”
A lesser emphasis is also being placed on Iran coming clean about its past efforts to build nuclear weapons. The Islamic Republic continues to stall United Nations efforts to determine the extent of its past weapons work, according to the Wall Street Journal.
By placing disclosure of Iran’s past military efforts on the back burner, the administration could harm the ability of outside inspectors to take full inventory of Iran’s nuclear know-how, according to sources familiar with the situation.
It also could jeopardize efforts to keep Iran at least one year away from building a bomb, sources said.
On the diplomatic front, greater concessions are fueling fears among U.S. allies that Iran will emerge from the negations as a stronger regional power.
BHO needs to cut a deal now so he can get to the back 9...
Only God Himself can stop Ohitler! Because in this time of history it looks like there are no more heroes in American to stop this evil man!!
Dan 11: “37 He will show no regard for the gods of his fathers or for the one desired by women, nor will he regard any god, but will exalt himself above them all.”
Obama means for Iran to have nuclear weapons. Just after he has left office.
I get the feeling that the Saudi’s have decided that it is time to shove Iran’s Nuke Agreement right up Obama’s Chute, and this Yemen episode is just the excuse they need.
The Saudi’s are moving VERY FAST, which likely means that they have been planning this for a while.
The U.S. isn’t in this alone. The rest of the P5+1 have to agree, and surprisingly it appears that France may be the rational one in the group and could veto any deal that they don’t agree with.
In all seriousness, this is serious. Unbelievable, but sadly not really.
Madness.
Time to wipe Iran off the map. Persia needs to go.
...which, in 20 years, might be seen as the true 0baMao “legacy”.
It doesn’t seem like Obama is complaining about Saudi Arabia. Or did I miss out on it>
Persia is on God’s list, too.
agreement or no agreement, Iran would not be bound by any agreement. Obama is a fool and everyone in the world knows it
all Iran wants is lifting of sanctions
Re-electing Zer0 was a huge mistake.....
They don’t think we’re paying attention, flood them with email, phone call, tweets, and texts. If we ever needed to stand together and fight it’s now. Iran with the bomb = dead Americans and an extinct Israel.
Good God. Help Isreal and help us.
The congress had better yank the sunofab*tch out of the shiite house pronto. He clearly has a personal problem with Israel and intends to do them great harm.
Saudi Arabia and Iran are a few shots away from a proxy war in Yemen. Which will spread to Iraq, then Syria which is a few miles from Israel.
The folks, especially the Jews, who voted for Barack Hussein Obama should hang their heads in shame. Worst president ever. Spit.
I wish I could play poker with Obama...
Maybe I could win the house on 1600 Pennsylvania ave in DC...with five card stud...
Obama is hoping to get a deal that has no restrictions. He can boast about a deal knowing full well that it has nothing enforceable, nothing restrictive...a big fat ZERO.
You all are right on the money...bullseye!
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