Don’t extend the Iran talks

Instead, Iran has been advancing while the talks stall. Over the past year, as sanctions have been lifted, Tehran has significantly benefited. As the Foundation for Defense of Democracies and Roubini Global Economics said in a joint report in October, Iran’s economy is expected to grow in FY 2014–2015 by 2.5 percent, after having fallen by 1.9 percent in FY 2013–2014 and 6.6 percent in FY 2012–2013, when the full weight of sanctions was imposed. Additional sanctions relief would only accelerate Iran’s economic recovery. The United States should not offer Tehran any more relief in order to keep talks going.

What’s more, as Iran’s economy has been recovering, its nuclear program has advanced considerably. United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), a New York–based advocacy group, notes that Iran has a sufficient stockpile of low-enriched uranium for as many as seven nuclear weapons, and its stockpile continues to grow. This is deeply troubling, since enriching uranium to that grade represents 70 percent of the effort needed to produce weapons-grade uranium. In addition, Olli Heinonen, the former head of the Department of Safeguards at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said this month that Iran could have up to 5,000 advanced-model IR-2 centrifuges, five times as many as it claims to have. UANI notes that if these centrifuges were installed, they could cut Iran’s “break-out” time — the amount of time it would take to produce enough weapons-grade uranium for one nuclear device — to a matter of weeks, if not days.

These developments are particularly worrisome when one considers the extraordinary lengths to which Iran has gone to stall U.N. inspections of its nuclear program. Over the past three years, the IAEA has expressed its concern “about the possible existence in Iran of undisclosed nuclear related activities involving military related organizations, including activities related to the development of a nuclear payload for a missile.” However, as the IAEA reported again this month, Iran has “not provided any explanations” that would enable the agency to clarify the possible military dimensions of its nuclear program. The only way for Iran to demonstrate that its program is exclusively for peaceful purposes is to “cooperate fully with the agency on all outstanding issues . . . including by providing access without delay to all sites, equipment, persons, and documents requested by the Agency.”