Hoping for John Kerry’s ‘failure’ The Monday deadline for a nuclear deal with Tehran is approaching. Naturally, that means John Kerry is spending the intervening hours begging his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to come to terms. We’ve been skeptical about a deal, and that skepticism has grown with each concession we have made. This week, former CIA director Michael Hayden put his finger on the fundamental weakness of the administration’s approach here. In testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, Hayden said it’s irresponsible to reach a deal when we do not have the intelligence or access to judge how close Iran is to a nuke. In other words, there’s really no way to know if Iran has come up with a bomb before it’s too late. And why should we expect more from some new deal when the International Atomic Energy Agency reports Iran is already violating the interim agreement by developing advanced centrifuges and testing them with uranium? The stakes are high. A nuclear-armed Iran would threaten our Arab as well as Israeli friends, embolden Tehran’s support for terrorism as well as give it a powerful check on any planned US intervention. We understand how desperate Secretary Kerry is for a deal that would allow him to claim some Middle Eastern success. But when it comes to Iran, a Kerry failure here is in America’s interests — because no deal is likely our best deal.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 04:30:01 +0000