US: ‘Last Chance’ for Iran to Shut Down Civilian Nuclear Program
Making sure that the level of demands that they are issuing are so high that Iran cannot possibly meet them, US officials today said that the upcoming Turkey meeting is Iran’s “last chance” to abandon its entire civilian nuclear program, shut down all enrichment facilities and “surrender” all of their nuclear fuel to the West. - The demands are much broader than anything US officials ever indicated they would seek earlier, but were in keeping with those that Israeli officials have recently been pushing for, particularly the demand that Iran simply give their nuclear fuel to the West as some sort of bribe for not being attacked. Under Iran’s IAEA safeguards agreement, they would be under no obligation to do any of these things. President Obama has conceded in the past that Iran has a “right” to a peaceful civilian nuclear program, which indeed is the right of every signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation treaty, but seems now to have given up this position, at least in practice.