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Good or bad Iran nuke deal? Israel vs. the US administration

Posted by ipso facto @ 10:59 on February 17, 2015  

By GEORGE JAHN

VIENNA (AP) — The U.S. and Iran are inching toward a nuclear deal that’s not as good as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants — but not as bad as he says it is shaping up to be.

Israel says any pact short of totally dismantling Iranian programs with weapons-making potential is deeply flawed. Netanyahu’s planned speech to the U.S. Congress March 3 — just a few weeks before the target date for a general agreement — gives him a high-profile soapbox to make his case.

Washington’s approach is to degrade Iran’s programs in order to extend the time Iran would need to make a nuclear weapon from the present few months to at least a year. U.S. officials say that would give the international community enough reaction time to do what it takes to stop Tehran.

Ahead of the next round of negotiations this week, a look at any potential agreement and how effective it may be.

GOOD DEAL OR BAD DEAL?

Relying on an inspection regime seems dicey considering the history of nations the world over — including Israel itself — acquiring nuclear weapons through deceit. And an Iranian nuclear weapon would further tilt the already unstable Middle Eastern strategic equation.

“It is one thing to try and verify that they are not bypassing you and it is another to verify that there is nothing to verify,” Israeli Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz told The Associated Press.

But defenders of such a deal say that such an evasion would be very difficult. Daryl Kimball of the Washington-based Arms Control Association says tough monitoring would result in “enough time to detect and disrupt” any Iranian effort to work on a bomb.

In any case, the option of pressing Iran toward total dismantling seems unrealistic. In a world where the U.S. has no stomach for another Middle Eastern military involvement, and Russia and China are unlikely to join a total embargo on the Iranian economy, proponents of the possible deal see it as the least bad option.

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150217/iran-nuclear-good_deal-6098dc4e9d.html

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Post by the Golden Rule. Oasis not responsible for content/accuracy of posts. DYODD.