Judah Grunstein over at World Politics Review is concerned that the uranium enrichment deal – even if it does eventually come to fruition – does little to address the fundamental issues at stake in the United States-Iranian bilateral relationship.
From the post:
As things stand, the Obama administration cannot accede to the principal Iranian demand of broadening the discussions beyond the nuclear dossier without significantly damaging the consensus among its EU partners (principally France). And the Iranians cannot accede to the principal American demand of a freeze and ultimate abandonment of its uranium enrichment without significantly damaging the domestic political consensus around the issue.
The problem for Obama is that he’s hemmed in from actually adopting a true engagement policy without preconditions, due to domestic political constraints and the risk of alienating the EU3. But in the absence of one, he’s forced to resort to engagement lite, which amounts to the same “freeze or sanctions” approach in friendlier packaging.
Grunstein’s argument is well taken, and it seems the only way out of this dilemma is for the Obama administration to articulate both to the EU-3 partners and the American public why broadening the dialogue with Iran beyond nuclear issues is the best way forward.
You can read the entire post here.
– Ben Katcher