This leaves military pressure as the only option. President Obama has already taken one potential source of leverage off the table by promising to veto legislation that threatens tighter economic sanctions on Iran.
Recent tensions with Russia will only create new opportunities for Iran to exploit the U.S. Tehran continues to deny inspectors access to key nuclear facilities. It has triggered a rise in Iran’s oil-export revenue, while its nuclear-breakout timing remains unchanged due to increased centrifuge efficiency, as permitted in the deal. The interim deal has undercut the leverage of the U.S. It’s hard to imagine negotiations succeeding. It’s time to increase the pressure on Tehran by boosting Israel’s military capacity to cripple Iran’s nuclear program. The Obama administration has cut a deeply flawed interim deal, forgone new sanctions, and effectively taken the military option off the table. Prussian leader Frederick the Great once lamented, “The ways of negotiation have failed up to the present, and negotiations without arms make as little impression as notes without instruments.” The same could be said about nuclear negotiations with Iran.
