Iran Accepted Pickerings Enrichment Proposal: Did Anyone Notice?
On Saturday, the Boston Globe ran an interview by Farah Stockman with Mohammad Khazaee, Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations. This itself is noteworthy: those who believe that the United States should pursue serious diplomacy with Iran might, presumably, wish to pay some attention to the words of the man selected by the Iranian government to represent it to the world. So I think Farah Stockman and the Boston Globe deserve some credit for providing an opportunity for Mr. Khazaee to make his case to the American newspaper-reading public, even if it was Saturday that they chose to run it. Khazaee noted that the right and ability to enrich uranium has “become an issue of national pride” in Iran, and asserted that regardless of what sanctions are imposed on Iran by the UN Security Council, and regardless of what incentives Iran is offered in talks, “the Iranian people will not accept suspension” of Iran’s enrichment program. These are re-statements of long-held Iranian positions. But thi
