“Despite resolutions by the United Nations condemning the program, international sanctions, computer systems sabotage, targeted killings and operational problems of various kinds, the Iranians have been able to add a significant number of new-model uranium enrichment centrifuges at its Natanz complex, while making fast paced progress at the underground – and therefore immune to military attack – enrichment facility at Fordow near Qom.

A long negotiation process plays into the hands of the Islamic Republic, since it is moving, slowly but inexorably, towards the technological threshold of being able to build a nuclear weapon, the stage beyond which the country will have all the necessary capabilities – tools, infrastructure, equipment, materials and knowledge – to produce a nuclear weapon whenever it wishes to.

To avert such an outcome and prevent forceful action by Israel, whose effectiveness can certainly be open to question but whose dramatic consequences for the Middle East and international security are inevitable, the next round of talks, after Baghdad, must achieve significant and quick milestones on the uranium enrichment issue.

The objective of these talks is to break the current stalemate, relieve tension and prevent the situation from getting out of hand.”

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