Is Iran Raising the Stakes of International Diplomacy?
President Ahmadinejad on Sunday announced ten new uranium enrichment plants to be built, this after the outgoing head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, has said that talks with Tehran have hit a dead end. To talk about the ramifications of all these moves from Tehran, we’re joined by Karim Sadjadpour of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace. Mr. Sadjadpour, thanks so much for joining us from Washington. KARIM SADJADPOUR, CARNEGIE ENDOWMENT FOR INTERNATIONAL PEACE: Thank you. AMANPOUR: How do you assess what President Ahmadinejad and the cabinet has said over the weekend? SADJADPOUR: Christiane, I think Ahmadinejad’s announcement was mostly bluster. If we want to put this into some perspective, Iran has taken over two decades to complete its enrichment facility in Natanz, and it’s still not fully operational. So for them to complete ten enrichment facilities the size of Natanz would — would take decades. So I would take this announcement with a grain of salt. I certainly don’t think it’s an i
