Iran's Wednesday response to Western negotiators in Vienna is not public yet, but the New York Times reports Iran has rejected the deal to ship out 3/4 of its declared uranium stockpile to be further enriched in Russia. Here is the best part of the NYT piece:
In fact, the Iranians found something to like in the Vienna deal. It essentially acknowledged their right to use low-enriched uranium that Iran produced in violation of three Security Council agreements. The Obama administration and its allies were willing to create that precedent because the material would be returned to Iran in the form of fuel rods, usable in a civilian nuclear plant but very difficult to convert to weapons use.
Mr. Ahmadinejad’s remarks seemed to extend Iran’s two-track public position on the nuclear dispute, offering a degree of compliance while also insisting that there were limits to its readiness for cooperation.
“As long as this government is in power, it will not retreat one iota on the undeniable rights of the Iranian nation,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “Fortunately, the conditions for international nuclear cooperation have been met. We are currently moving in the right direction and we have no fear of legal cooperation, under which all of Iran’s national rights will be preserved, and we will continue our work.”
Mr. Ahmadinejad also suggested that Iran expected Western countries to honor payments for nuclear assistance it made before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran paid more than $1 billion to help build a French reactor in return for access to that reactor’s fuel. After the revolution, France reneged on the contract.
“We have nuclear contracts,” Mr. Ahmadinejad said. “It has been 30 years, we have paid for them. Such agreements must be fulfilled.”
Iran has re-affirmed--for the trillionth time this decade--its determination not to give up any part of its nuclear program. Robert Kagan doubts President Obama can beat Iran at poker (or Moscow)--this applies equally, by inference, to chess.
Bottom Line. Persians play chess, and knights can jump over pieces and fork king & queen, even checkmate a cornered king. The West had better stop playing checkers.
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