A proposed endgame for the Iranian nuclear crisis

By Kaveh L. Afrasiabi | 25 February 2013| Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists - http://thebulletin.org/web-edition/op-eds/proposed-endgame-the-iranian-nuclear-crisis

Article Highlights

• Iran's civilian fuel cycle has reached a point of no return, and no amount of external pressure can reverse this Iranian nuclear achievement.
• Western proliferation concerns about Iran reflect a basic misperception of Iran's  nuclear intentions and conflate the latent nuclear capability inherent in the fuel cycle with a manifest nuclear threat.
• If decoupled from the unrealistic goal of no Iranian uranium enrichment, US policy could make inroads and keep Iran's nuclear capability perpetually latent and thus harmless.