US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian representative agree on extending talks 7 months.
As expected, today's "deadline" for a nuclear deal with Iran has been extended 7 months. [1]
Since an earlier "deadline" had been extended once before, today's extension came as no surprise. So what's the hold-up?
Well despite the nonsense one reads from the corporate MSM [2] any hang up for a deal lies squarely with the US, not Iran despite the bloviating one hears from the talking heads or reads the likes of Sunday's New York Times to wit:
We must have "reassurance" that Iran won't secretly break out and produce a nuclear weapon in some "sneakout" move that might happen so any deal must be "air tight" as possible.
Of course these are all allegations coming from the US. The talks with Iran have been unequal negotiations from the beginning with the US precondition there be no consideration for lifting the imposed economic sanctions unless Iran halted the enrichment of uranium to levels below bomb grade-which it agreed to even though enrichment never approached the level to produce a bomb.
But it's been a US charade from the beginning:
- IAEA nuclear inspectors have always been in Iran as the country is a signatory to the nuclear non-proliferation agreement and as such is granted legal permission to enrich uranium for peaceful means-which Iran has complied with.
- In 2007 all 17 US intelligence agencies concurred Iran ceased all potential nuclear bomb activities in 2003-an assessment Bush II admitted in his recent book which he said prevented him from considering bombing Iranian nuclear facilities in 2007.
- It was the US along with Israel that launched a cyber attack in 2010 called "Stuxnet", a virus infecting Iranian computers controlling the legal enrichment of uranium.
Never mind it is next to impossible to develop a nuclear weapon in secret with heat sensors, satellite imagery and need to test a device before it could be deployed. Besides Iran have no missiles capable of being loaded on its rockets-as if the US wouldn't know of such developments.
Never mind Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said Iran wouldn't consider building a nuclear weapon; that such an idea was "un-Islamic". But his pronouncement fell on def ears in the US and was dismissed out of hand.
Never mind the economic sanctions on Iran are illegal.
Never mind Iranian nuclear scientists have been assassinated in covert operations-CIA, Israeli Mossad- on the streets in Iran.
It becomes a bit much that a possible Iranian "sneakout" to build a nuclear weapon is presented as a sticking point holding up a deal.
Let's face it official Washington is dominated by the neo-cons which put regime change in Iran as a top priority. "Bomb, bomb Iran" crazy Senator John McCain is set to become chairman of the foreign relations committee. One wonders, has there ever been any intention to reach a deal with Iran?
Then there's the American public having been thoroughly propagandized and indoctrinated with demonization of Iran and made fearful of it getting the bomb.
ALL US aggressiveness toward Iran-illegal economic sanctions, a US armada patrolling ominously in the Persian Gulf off the Iranian coast, "Stuxnet" cyber attacks, assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists and of course the initial CIA coup in Iran in 1953, overthrowing the legitimately elected government-is all conveniently ignored or dismissed and apparently "acceptable" actions taken by the true believers in American "exceptionalism" of the "indispensible" country.
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