European diplomats warned Monday that Iran is preparing to abandon parts of a landmark nuclear deal in response to new US sanctions….
It’s a vapid fear, and only the EU’s foreign affairs diplomats could be so…naïve.
Iran already is violating the nuclear weapons agreement, and it has been all along.
A senior European diplomat said Iranian officials have been considering a partial withdrawal from some parts of the multination accord….
This would only publicly formalize Iran’s behavior. Consider, for instance:
Iran’s ballistic missile tests and satellite launches explicitly allow testing nuclear warhead carriers, guidance systems, rocket engine capabilities, and a host of other capabilities related to delivery of nuclear warheads.
No one is allowed to inspect Iran’s military sites, which is where weapons development occurs.
For those sites Iran does allow to be inspected, there must be long-lead time notice given prior to any inspection, which allows Iran’s developers to clean up after themselves before the inspectors arrive.
Not that much of this matters, anyway, beyond timing. The nuclear weapons deal only held up—supposedly—Iran’s development for a few years, after which it will be free to develop (and subsequently to employ, as it has said it would do) all the nuclear weapons it wanted.