The signs are obvious: a faction is now revving up skepticism of the talks, wanting new conditions to be imposed, creating new slogans – “no consensus, no surrender” – and waving the flag. Another day at the Weekly Standard? Leon Wieseltier on a roll? Kenneth Pollack, that accountability-lite supporter of the Iraq War, and still pronouncing on WMDs in the Middle East? Nah – the fundamentalist extremists in Iran:
An event [over the weekend], organized by a group identifying itself as “the anxious” and held at the site of the former U.S. embassy in Tehran, drew dozens opposing the temporary nuclear deal, the local Shargh newspaper reported. Participants chanted slogans such as “no consensus, no surrender” and waved Iran’s flag and posters that read “details of the negotiations won’t remain a secret.”
Like the neocons, the revolutionary forces in Iran are trying to smear the politicians trying to move forward, highlighting Rouhani’s past failures the way the GOP is banging on about Benghazi. But Rouhani is apparently standing firm and the deal’s shape is emerging quite clearly:
Getting to the heart of the matter, many points seem close to being settled. Iran is ready to cap at 5% its production of enriched uranium and to limit its current stockpile from further enrichment. The controversial underground facility of Fordow will probably end up as a kind of research and development unit. The Arak reactor’s original configuration allowed the yearly production of about ten kilograms of plutonium, enough for one or two bombs. Ali Akbar Salehi, chairman of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), has hinted that this configuration could be modified in order to accommodate low-enriched uranium fuel rather than natural uranium. This would reduce Arak’s plutonium production capacity by a factor of five to ten. And Iran has already confirmed that it has no intention of acquiring the fuel reprocessing capacity indispensable for isolating weapon-grade plutonium.
Yes. We. Can.
The Dish 