The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs has just published an excellent four-pager called “Beyond Zero Enrichment: Suggestions for an Iranian Nuclear Deal.”
The report lays out the United States’ policy options with regard to Iran’s nuclear program, and makes a clear and concise case for why the United States must move beyond its insistence on “zero enrichment.” According to the report, “Zero enrichment is so unlikely it should not be the basis of policy.”
Instead, the “least bad” option for the United States is to reach a deal with the Islamic Republic that allows some enrichment in exchange for an Iranian commitment to safeguards against the weaponization of its nuclear program.
The argument made in the report is similar to one made by Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett in their paper, “Time for a U.S.-Iranian ‘Grand Bargain’,” published last year.
– Ben Katcher