More on Iran and the Great Game

Adam L. Silverman, PhD*

On Saturday TTG brought reports of diplomatic outreach between the US and Iran. Yesterday Eric Follath reported in Der Spiegel that Iran's new president, Hassan Rohani, is prepared to decommission the Fordo nuclear installation that is about 20 kilometers from the Holy City of Qom. This offer would be made as concessions in exchange for the US ultimately lifting sanctions. While there is no way to know if the Follath has a real scoop, or if he has a big a scoop as it appears, there is some overlap with what TTG wrote about. And regardless of the outcome signs of diplomacy actually taking place should always be a welcome sight.

* Adam L. Silverman is the Cultural Advisor at the US Army War College. The views expressed here are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of the US Army War College and/or the US Army.

Comments

[Charles I]

I saw a press report in a Canadian web newspaper site that the Iranian FM has commented approvingly on the Syria CW deal as well.

Should be able to put a stop to that with a few stern choruses of Deeds not Words and Bibism or two.

[Babak Makkinejad]

The United States has capable diplomats that could put together an acceptable deal with Iran in about 3 days.

The principles in US are not interested in a deal with Iran; they were not before, they are not now.

[b]

Eric Follath is well known for his "relations" to Mossad. Whatever "intelligence sources" tell him comes from Tel Aviv.

Fordow is the guarantee Tehran build for itself to preserve its nuclear program even if an air attack happens. Tehran will certainly not decommission it.

[Norbert M Salamon]

Farsnews.com denies this story via the statement of Mr. Saheli.

[Norbert M Salamon]

interesting that the President has decided to waive ban on arming terrorists in Syria -- another step to ease tensions with Iran, Russia and China -LOL See antiwar.com

[Anna-Marina]

When will AIPAC be squashed as a harmful bug it is?

http://www.theamericanconservative.com/obamas-almost-first-act-in-office-spy-on-americans-for-israel/

[Mark Logan]

b,

Another source, and another angle.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/09/18/us-iran-nuclear-khamenei-idUSBRE98H0JU20130918

For Iran nukes are more trouble than they are worth.

[toto]

Unfortunately, no US president will accept a full normalization deal with Iran that doesn't include renouncing violence against Israel (directly or through proxies), and no Iranian leadership will agree to that. So I guess the best we can hope for is a relative de-escalation.

How the West ended up aligning with Wahhabi Saudi Arabia against culturally advanced (and historical neighbour) Iran will go down in history books as one of the greatest SNAFUs of international politics.

[Anna-Marina]

The Qs:

1. Who had authorized the sharing of unfiltered and clandestinely and indiscriminately obtained information about the US citizens with Israel? We need to know the names.

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/sep/11/nsa-americans-personal-data-israel-documents

2. What was/is FISA reaction to the sharing of the data on American citizens with a foreign country of Israel? There is a group of people that should be tried for treason.

[b]

That "source" has nothing about Fordo

[The beaver]

Ann Curry in Iran:
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/iranian-president-talks-nuclear-weapons-syria-in-interview-with-nbcs-ann-curry/

“We have never pursued or sought a nuclear bomb. We are not going to do so. We are solely seeking peaceful nuclear technology.” When Curry pushed him to make that a promise, Rouhani said, “We have time and again said that under no circumstances would we seek any weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear weapons, nor will we ever.”

[Mark Logan]

b,

My thought was Iran has no need of Fordo if they give up the ability to either secretly or un-preventively build a nuclear weapon.

[b]

/quote/
So what of recent reports that Iran is on the verge of dismantling the Fordow facility and allowing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to oversee the process in return for lifting international sanctions on the country’s central bank and oil industry?

To get an answer, Al-Monitor spoke with Ali Akbar Salehi, head of Iran’s Atomic Energy Organization, who adamantly denied the accuracy of such reporting, responding, “These are pure lies. I don’t know where they got this. We haven't said a word about shutting down nuclear sites.”

Salehi’s denial shouldn't be surprising, because the allegation plan is not the Iranian way of thinking. The degree of attachment between the nuclear program and ideology in Iran means that any concessions will have nothing to do with the core of it nuclear program, but with the process, which might involve the level of enrichment, access to plants, degree of coordination with the IAEA, and so on — but certainly not its closure.

Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2013/09/fordow-nuclear-plant-linked-sacred-ground-iran.html#ixzz2fQ01vmDw
/endquote/

[Charles I]

Well I'm not American so on the one hand I don't care, but really, your country, like mine, is penetrated, everybody's doing it except a few patriots and cranks and law-abiders.

But from under my tinfoil hat, I'm a lot more worried about things like various and sundry Amdocs and Verint hubs hoovering up your usage and metadata as they track spending on an er, contractual, as opposed to constitutional basis.

http://forum.prisonplanet.com/index.php?topic=140988.0

However, the mootness of it all is soothing:

http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/09/19/life-on-earth-will-be-obliterated-by-the-heat-of-the-sun-1-75-to-3-25-billion-years-from-now/

[Charles I]

So lets have Iran & Russia propose a peace deal for Israel, Palestine & self, along with wmd deals, just to complete the tutorial