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Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Stephen L Carter - Why Negotiations With Iran Are Doomed

If you want to figure out what went wrong in the first round of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, look no further than the news briefing by a “Senior Administration Official” in the U.S. State Department just days before Secretary of State John Kerry arrived in Geneva.

The unnamed Senior Administration Official (I stick with the initial caps intentionally) laid out a plan rich in contradiction. Then, when pressed on the crucial question of verification, the official essentially punted

According to reports -- partially disputed by President Barack Obama’s administration -- the meetings collapsed over France’s insistence that the Tehran regime agree to stop work on its Arak heavy-water reactor, and possibly over details of verification as well. Yet just a day before things fell apart, reports were trumpeting the forthcoming deal.

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