Ken Berwitz
Actually, though, if you happen to read the Chicago Tribune, you would know, because The Trib had an excellent editorial on this subject just two days ago – as opposed to most other mainstream media, which either barely reported it or ignored it altogether.
Let me show you a few excerpts from what the Tribune told its readers…and you decide if it was important enough to be treated as a major news story:
As part of theinternational agreement to prohibit Iran from developing nuclear weapons, theIranian government was supposed to resolve a dozen questions about its pastnuclear research. Come clean, the rest of the world essentially said, and we\’llhave enough confidence to lift economic sanctions.
Iran hasn\’t comeclean. Last week, the International Atomic Energy Agency releaseda key report on what it has learned.
Iranian scientistssecretly worked on weapons design, testing and components needed for a bombuntil 2009, the report says. The scientists developed high-precision detonatorsand built a facility to study how a nuclear explosion could be triggered. Allthis while Iranian leaders denied that they sought to build the bomb.
The confidence levelin this assessment, though, is not terribly high. That\’s because Iran didn\’tfully cooperate, as it was expected to do. It did not answer all the questions.
The report aboundswith fudge phrases – such as “based on all the information available” – to indicate that all the information wasn\’t available. Iran didn\’tanswer three of 12 questions posed by the IAEA. It provided only partialanswers to several others. In some cases, the IAEA didn\’t believe Iran\’sclaims.
“Overall, Iranprovided little real cooperation,” the Institute for Science andInternational Security concludes. “Denials and lack of truthfulness shouldnot be confused with cooperation. … The truth of Iran\’s work on nuclearweapons is probably far more extensive than outlined by the IAEA.”
All this was nosurprise. Days before the report\’s release, IAEA chief Yukiya Amano tamped downexpectations. “The report will not be black and white,” he said.
But the world hasreason to expect full and complete answers. “They have to do it. It willbe done. If there\’s going to be a deal, it will be done,” Secretary ofState John Kerry said back in April.
The lifting ofeconomic sanctions should be paused until Iran completely answers thosequestions about its practice nuclear work.
This information isvital. Without it, the West can\’t accurately gauge Iran\’s breakout capability —that is, how fast Iran could build a bomb if it decided to scrap the deal.
The U.S. and othernegotiators should use their leverage – the U.S. and international sanctions – to force Tehran to fill in the remaining blanks on its weapons program. Oncesanctions come off, they won\’t be easily reimposed.
The urgency here isn\’tto lift sanctions as quickly as possible to strengthen Iran\’s wobbly economy.The urgency is to demand that Iran deliver on its promises to come clean.
