-Caveat Lector-
Begin forwarded message:
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: March 16, 2007 12:36:50 PM PDT
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Proposed Solution to "Iran Problem" -- Let the Robber
Barons in!
A WAY OUT OF IRAN'S NUCLEAR IMPASSE?
By WALTER ISAACSON
TIME, March 14, 2007
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1599063,00.html
Javad Zarif, Iran's polished U.N. ambassador, is noted for being
unexpectedly jovial for a person with such a difficult job. But
soon after I arrive for a visit to his Manhattan office a few days
ago, he turns rather serious and nods at a pad of paper for me to
take notes. He wants to go on the record, which is unusual.
When he invited me to see him, I thought it was to say farewell. A
law professor turned diplomat, he is not a supporter of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Instead, he has been aligned with the more
pragmatic elements in Iran, and last month he was told that he was
being recalled. But upon arriving, I find that he has been given a
reprieve (or, perhaps, an extension of his sentence) by leaders in
Tehran. They want him to stay for one last attempt to resolve the
dispute over Iran's nuclear program.
The U.S. insists there should be no direct negotiations until Iran
suspends its uranium-enrichment program. To break that impasse,
Zarif argues that both sides should discuss what their final aims
would be. "We could start with two premises," he says. "One, that
Iran has the right to nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.
Two, that Iran should never move in the direction of building
nuclear weapons."
Yes, but how to guarantee that the technology is not used for
illicit purposes? Zarif builds on an approach that Iran floated
last October. "Iran could agree that its nuclear facilities,
including all of its enrichment plants, could be jointly owned by
an international consortium. All countries with concerns, including
the U.S., could participate in that consortium. Their people and
other foreign nationals could come and go to work at the
facilities, which would allow for the best type of monitoring."
An agreement could also have other elements the U.S. would want.
"You can put in a legal agreement that Iran could not withdraw from
the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty," which it ratified in 1970.
In addition, he said, there could be protocols for intrusive
monitoring.
The consortium proposal is the key to Zarif's plan, because it
could provide the best way to prevent cheating. "Because many
countries would own and operate the plants, there would be built-in
safeguards against nationalization or cheating," he says. From
Iran's perspective, this would be less offensive than just having
inspectors. "It is an issue of respect," Zarif explains. "Of course
you are monitoring as you do this, but you are doing it with
respect as owners and operators."
One problem with such a plan is that Iran might use both the
knowledge and the enriched uranium from consortium plants to pursue
a secret bomb-making program. That is why any such outcome should
be accompanied by other safeguards: involvement by the
international consortium in all Iranian nuclear facilities rather
than just the enrichment sites, an agreement that there can be snap
intrusive inspections of any facility, a verifiable cap on Iran's
production of enriched uranium and a requirement that no facilities
be hidden or buried.
Washington's position is that none of these ideas should be
discussed until Iran again suspends enrichment. But given the
pressure Iran now clearly feels, which may account for its
eagerness to talk, it may be time to take Ambassador Zarif's plan
seriously — and try one last time to see if all sides can agree on
what a comprehensive and verifiable final deal could look like.
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