Obama's reelection and signs of Iranian willingness to end the nuclear standoff might offer some hope towards a compromise.Having won reelection, President Obama now has greater diplomatic freedom and the political space to offer significant concessions to Iran, includingthe lifting of some of the economic sanctionsthat have been in place for more than half a decade as a response to Irans nuclear program, in exchange for concessions by Iran. As of yet, there is little evidence that he is willing to do so.
Although the usual coalitionof hawks, neoconservatives, Republican lawmakers, and members of Washington pro-Likud Israel lobby are stepping up pressure for a more confrontational stance vis--vis Iran, there are also growing calls from moderates, centrists and Nixonian realists to make an offer to Tehran that goes well beyond what has been offered in past talks, most recently the sessions held between April and June in Istanbul, Baghdad and Moscow, which made no headway.
In early December, a high-powered coalition of two dozen former U.S. diplomats, military and intelligence officials and other Iran expertsreleased a letter to Obamathat suggested a new path. At its core, the letter insisted that an initial accord could succeed in achieving a verifiable halt to Irans accumulation of 20-percent enriched uranium, though not necessarily a complete halt to enrichment entirely, if the product were to be exported or converted to metallic form. But, they added, such a deal must also include a reciprocal relaxing [of] some of the international and financial sanctions imposed on Iran. The letter was signed by, among others, James Dobbins, a former assistant secretary of state; Thomas Pickering, a former under secretary of state; and Paul Pillar, a CIA officer for the Near East and South Asia. The signatories added that the administrations goal should be to restrict, not suspend, Iran's enrichment to normal reactor-grade levels, i.e., 3-5 percent enrichment.
So far, no administration official has publicly acknowledged that an interim deal might involve the lifting of key economic sanctions. For some time now, Obama administration officials have hinted that theyd be willing to accept Irans continuing enrichment to reactor-grade uranium, though none have been willing to say so explicitly and unequivocally.Yet most Iran watchersin Washington believe that no agreement can take place without both an acknowledgment of Irans right to enrich and the lifting of some, if not all, sanctions.
By The Diplomat
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