The first jolting revelation forced out of the Obama administration by Mr. Netanyahu’s speech to Congress was the admission that a deal with Iran would only be of 10 years’ duration. Following that, Iran would apparently be on its own, unfettered as to its nuclear plans.
But there were other dismaying messages coming from the administration, none more so than what President Obama said on “Face the Nation” this past weekend:
The Iranians have negotiated seriously because we were able to bring them to the table through some of the toughest sanctions that have been ever put in place. We have made progress in narrowing the gaps, but those gaps still exist… [I]f we are able to verify that in fact they are not developing weapons systems, then there’s a deal to be had. But that’s going to require them to accept the kind of verification and constraints on their program that, so far at least, they have not been willing to say yes to…. [T]he good news is, is that during this period Iran has abided by the terms of the agreement…. They have not advanced their nuclear program. We have been able to roll back their 20 percent highly enriched uranium during this period of time…. So we’re not losing anything through these talks…. If there’s no deal, then we walk away. If we cannot verify that they are not going to obtain a nuclear weapon, that there’s a breakout period so that even if they cheated we would be able to have enough time to take action, if we don’t have that kind of deal, then we are not going to take it.
One wonders (a) how the president knows Iran has been in compliance if the Iranians still haven’t accepted the necessary monitoring, and (b) why Iran would concede anything when the president speaks of walking away from the table while conspicuously failing to mention any recourse to a military option.