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.
Satan agrees with Satan to keep being Satan.
And he can frame any future attempt to reign Iran's nuke activities in as a violation of the "agreement".
It'll be our fault when the inevitable happens.
0bama caves to crazy islamic country weakening america and strengthening the caliphate?
gee, who could’ve guessed it
You can bet that the liberals will blame anything wrong on Tom Cotton, George Bush, Rush Limbaugh, George Washington, Calvin Coolidge....
It’s just who they are.
Meanwhile one of hottest revivals in the world is going on in Iran. They can’t build jail cells fast enough to contain all the converts to Jesus.
Do you realize if this agreement isn’t written on paper John Kerry will make history by becoming the first man to negotiate an agreement so worthless it can’t even be used as toilet paper?
If they really want nuclear energy for civilian use, why uranium? The next generation nuke technology are thorium/molten salt reactors. Among its many improvements over uranium reactors is the fact it can’t be weaponized. Call their bluff. Tell ‘em we whole heartedly support their civilian nuke energy program. Offer to fill whatever technological gaps they may have regarding thorium reaction technology. Offer to help build them. If they still insist on uranium, we and everyone else will know exactly what they really want at that point.
Will someone stand and impeach Obama. Are all reprrsentatibes little twits?
“And still Congress does................................................................................... (now let’s not always see the same hands).”
Ooooh! Ooooh! I know the answer!
Not an effing thing. Because they’re all one big, happy uniparty.
We have to react! They just keep pushing out these atrocities and Congress sits there like the frickin’ three monkeys, see no evil, hear no evil speak no evil while they’re immersed in evil up to their fat necks.
Call, write, tweet, no deal is better than this deal and the impotent Congress needs to act. We’re talking about our kid’s lives here, our families rotting away from radiation poisoning, to hell with politics, time to sound the alarm!
“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.”
Uhmmm, this is the same congress “led” by the likes of the blubbering cheetoh and the kentucky turtle. Nothing of use will be coming from that waste of space.
The POS seems determined to bring on Revelation's Big Showdown, whether he means to or not.
You’d be better off lobbying Israel or France or even Saudi Arabia for that matter.
Congress is beyond useless.
Iranian demands:
We get to make nuclear bombs
We get to bomb Israel
We get to bomb America
*We get to fly the muslim flag over the White House.*
obama and Kerry: Ok
Fixed.
I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t slander the good reputation of s!!!. I mean, what did s!!! ever do to you to earn such an insulting association?
As for religious implications, who knows? Reminds me of a line from an old movie...”the karma in this place is so thick you need an aqualung to breathe!”
Good point. At least s is useful for growing rice.
What is the point of Iran having a nuclear program?
They have been proven not to be responsible.
How about this, Iran disassembles all centrifuges, and decommissions all their nuclear facilities under Israeli supervision or they see a mushroom cloud over Tehran. That would be my deal. Sanctions still imposed. Those can be lifted when the Iranian government can be shown to be civilized towards innocent men and women around the world.
Israel and the House of Saud are on their own.
The two will now begin to project force directly, rather than wait for the US to act as an arbitrator.
Expect more war soon.
The Saudi's are many things, but stupid is not one of them. They are wily traders who have negotiated superpower rivalries and big power politics with great success. They apparently perceive that the US is done in the Mideast and it is now every country for himself.
I'm not at all convinced we are a force for good any longer. Even after the Kenyan Klown leaves office.
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