Tony Karon, writing in The National, explains one of the key reasons that the P5+1 negotiations with Iran have failed thus far.
Underlying the talks in Vienna last month was the key question of whether Iran has the right to enrich uranium on its soil, an issue the parties deliberately put aside.
As Flynt Leverett and Hillary Mann Leverett have written, it is highly unlikely that the Islamic Republic will forfeit its uranium enrichment capacity. The question is whether the United States and its P5+1 partners are prepared to accept that reality and negotiate some kind of arrangement that accepts Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity in exchange for safeguards against weaponization.
That should be the United States’ goal with regard to these negotiations – and that goal can only be achieved in the context of comprehensive negotiations.
– Ben Katcher