International Law and the Iran Impasse

International Law and the Iran Impasse

by Aslı Bâli | published December 16, 2012 - http://www.merip.org/mero/mero121612?utm_source=merolist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=mero121612

For more on Iranian thinking about the nuclear issue, see Aslı Bâli's interview with former negotiating team spokesman Hossein Mousavian, “‘Iran Will Require Assurances,’” Middle East Report Online, May 16, 2012.

On any given day, provided her paper of choice still features international coverage, the average American newspaper reader can expect to be treated to one or two articles on attempts to halt advances in Iran’s nuclear program. These articles might cover efforts to levy fresh sanctions against the Islamic Republic; they might relay news of discussions among Iran’s primary interlocutors on the nuclear question, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (the so-called P5+1), about diplomatic overtures. Or the stories might echo the mounting calls for airstrikes or other military action to delay and disrupt the progress of Iranian nuclear research. Until October, indeed, breathless reporting on the increasing likelihood of Israeli military strikes on Iran was daily fare. The brakes were placed on this speculation in time for the US presidential elections, but the brief respite has come to an end.