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Mason W. Clews

First Posted: 11/14/2013 By all appearances, the United States and the so-called P5+1 came within an inch of making a deal with Iran over its nuclear program. The deal fell apart in the end because, by all accounts, France rejected it vehemently, calling it a &#8220;sucker&#8217;s deal.&#8221;
France was right. The French owe much to the Americans for actions of the past, but this time around it is the Americans that should say &#8220;Thank you&#8221; to France.
Let&#8217;s be perfectly clear about the fundamental point: Making a deal, a good deal, is a highly desirable goal. If Iran can be prevented from making nuclear weapons, or from getting very close to making nuclear weapons, without military action, that is indeed the most desirable outcome.
The Iranian people deserve a chance to return to prosperity, and a lowering of international tensions would be good for everyone. Making a deal, however, is not the ultimate objective. The real goal is stopping and dismantling Iran&#8217;s progress toward a nuclear weapon.
This agreement would not have done that.
Negotiations will resume on Wednesday, with lower-level officials meeting again to pick up where their bosses left off.
The official terms of the deal that fell apart last weekend during feverish negotiations in Geneva have not been revealed. But France, breaking ranks with the P5+1 (the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council + Germany), revealed its objections before the official press conference was scheduled to start.
The most glaring flaw in the proposed plan centered on the status of a plutonium reactor that Iran is building, in parallel with its massive uranium enrichment activities. It seems Iran was prepared to agree to a freeze in uranium enrichment in exchange for some relief in Western economic sanctions.
But what about the plutonium plant?
Iran claims it needs plutonium for medical and agricultural research. That&#8217;s a hard line to swallow, especially coming from a country that has repeatedly been caught lying about its nuclear program.
The negotiators in Geneva did discuss the Arak plutonium plant. But there was no great sense of urgency on the matter, perhaps because the plant is scheduled to be completed in 2014. According to reporters on the ground, there was a plan for Arak, but the terms are so weak that one is left wondering about the wisdom of the Western negotiators.
According to The New York Times, a compromise favored by some in the American delegation would have allowed Iran to continue building the Arak plutonium plant as long as Tehran agreed to refrain from operating it during the six months covered by the interim accord.
In other words, Iran would have continued pushing forward in a key part of its nuclear program. The famous nuclear clock would have kept on ticking.

COMMENTARY: FRIDA GHITIS On Iran nuclear deal, be very skeptical