• About Us
  • Subscription
  • Contact Us
Sunday, May 25, 2025
  • Login
Iran Times
  • Home
  • What’s the News
    • All
    • baygani
    Shah’s Grand Daughter Weds American In New York

    Shah’s Grand Daughter Weds American In New York

    Fruit Peddler To Hang For His Protest Poetry From Buying Texas Land

    Fruit Peddler To Hang For His Protest Poetry From Buying Texas Land

    UK Arrests Two Bands Of Iranians For Plotting Attacks

    UK Arrests Two Bands Of Iranians For Plotting Attacks

    Storms Pound Many Parts Of Iran, Killing Nine

    Storms Pound Many Parts Of Iran, Killing Nine

    Snatch And Grab Thievery Now All The Rage

    Snatch And Grab Thievery Now All The Rage

    Cousin Murders TV Hostess For Her Wealth

    Iranian Student In Alabama To Self-Deport Despite Withdrawal of Initial

    Iranian Student In Alabama To Self-Deport Despite Withdrawal of Initial

    Novel Tells Story Of Five Women In A Family That Leaves Iran For America

    Novel Tells Story Of Five Women In A Family That Leaves Iran For America

    Canada Party Boss Says Iran’s Leaders Are ‘Liars’

    Canada Party Boss Says Iran’s Leaders Are ‘Liars’

  • Diaspora
  • Economy
    Banks Must Keep More Money On Hand

    Banks Must Keep More Money On Hand

    Russian Says Iran Watermelons Unsafe

    Russian Says Iran Watermelons Unsafe

    Iran Not To Be Self-Sufficient In Wheat This Year

    Iran Not To Be Self-Sufficient In Wheat This Year

    Opec Pumps More Crude, Just When Its Not Needed

    Opec Pumps More Crude, Just When Its Not Needed

    Lithium Deposits Being Hyped By Some in Iran

    Lithium Deposits Being Hyped By Some in Iran

    Despite Trump, Iran Sells China More Oil

    Despite Trump, Iran Sells China More Oil

    Despite Revolutionary Goals, Iran’s Exports Still Mostly Oil-Based

    Trump Hits Iran With 10% Tariff On Next-To-No Trade

    Trump Hits Iran With 10% Tariff On Next-To-No Trade

    The Oil Patch

    The Oil Patch

  • Tidbits and Morsels
  • Latest

    Drone Attack That Killed 3 US Troops in Jordan Could Have Been Foiled

    Iranian-Canadians Reportedly Turned Away at US Border

    Iranian-Americans: an Account of Integration and Achievement

    Jamshid Myth

    Two Cabinet Ministers Convicted in $3.4B Case of Corruption at Tea Firm

    Two Cabinet Ministers Convicted in $3.4B Case of Corruption at Tea Firm

    Resolution in US House Would Very Quietly Endorse Mojahedin-e Khalq

    Resolution in US House Would Very Quietly Endorse Mojahedin-e Khalq

    Subsidized Currency Stays

    Crypto Crackdown Seen as Fueling Rial Collapse

    Iran no Longer Advances Clocks at Now Ruz

    Iran no Longer Advances Clocks at Now Ruz

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Subscription
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • What’s the News
    • All
    • baygani
    Shah’s Grand Daughter Weds American In New York

    Shah’s Grand Daughter Weds American In New York

    Fruit Peddler To Hang For His Protest Poetry From Buying Texas Land

    Fruit Peddler To Hang For His Protest Poetry From Buying Texas Land

    UK Arrests Two Bands Of Iranians For Plotting Attacks

    UK Arrests Two Bands Of Iranians For Plotting Attacks

    Storms Pound Many Parts Of Iran, Killing Nine

    Storms Pound Many Parts Of Iran, Killing Nine

    Snatch And Grab Thievery Now All The Rage

    Snatch And Grab Thievery Now All The Rage

    Cousin Murders TV Hostess For Her Wealth

    Iranian Student In Alabama To Self-Deport Despite Withdrawal of Initial

    Iranian Student In Alabama To Self-Deport Despite Withdrawal of Initial

    Novel Tells Story Of Five Women In A Family That Leaves Iran For America

    Novel Tells Story Of Five Women In A Family That Leaves Iran For America

    Canada Party Boss Says Iran’s Leaders Are ‘Liars’

    Canada Party Boss Says Iran’s Leaders Are ‘Liars’

  • Diaspora
  • Economy
    Banks Must Keep More Money On Hand

    Banks Must Keep More Money On Hand

    Russian Says Iran Watermelons Unsafe

    Russian Says Iran Watermelons Unsafe

    Iran Not To Be Self-Sufficient In Wheat This Year

    Iran Not To Be Self-Sufficient In Wheat This Year

    Opec Pumps More Crude, Just When Its Not Needed

    Opec Pumps More Crude, Just When Its Not Needed

    Lithium Deposits Being Hyped By Some in Iran

    Lithium Deposits Being Hyped By Some in Iran

    Despite Trump, Iran Sells China More Oil

    Despite Trump, Iran Sells China More Oil

    Despite Revolutionary Goals, Iran’s Exports Still Mostly Oil-Based

    Trump Hits Iran With 10% Tariff On Next-To-No Trade

    Trump Hits Iran With 10% Tariff On Next-To-No Trade

    The Oil Patch

    The Oil Patch

  • Tidbits and Morsels
  • Latest

    Drone Attack That Killed 3 US Troops in Jordan Could Have Been Foiled

    Iranian-Canadians Reportedly Turned Away at US Border

    Iranian-Americans: an Account of Integration and Achievement

    Jamshid Myth

    Two Cabinet Ministers Convicted in $3.4B Case of Corruption at Tea Firm

    Two Cabinet Ministers Convicted in $3.4B Case of Corruption at Tea Firm

    Resolution in US House Would Very Quietly Endorse Mojahedin-e Khalq

    Resolution in US House Would Very Quietly Endorse Mojahedin-e Khalq

    Subsidized Currency Stays

    Crypto Crackdown Seen as Fueling Rial Collapse

    Iran no Longer Advances Clocks at Now Ruz

    Iran no Longer Advances Clocks at Now Ruz

  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Subscription
No Result
View All Result
Iran Times
No Result
View All Result

Vive la France for refusing to sign this mad, bad agreement

November 22-2013

Emanuele Ottolenghi

Who would have ever thought that the only thing standing between the tree-hugging brigade and a nuclear-armed Iran would be a French socialist government?

Yet, that is precisely what happened in Geneva last week, when the French Foreign Minister, Laurent Fabius, prevented his Western counterparts from capitulating to Iran in a deal that would effectively involve no meaningful Iranian concessions in exchange for sanctions relief worth billions of dollars.

p6 puzzleThough the contours of the proposed deal are not fully disclosed, it appears to have made no demand for Iran to stop enrichment — an obligation affirmed under six Chapter VII UN Security Council resolutions which mandate that Iran stop all enrichment-related activities.

The deal did not entail a drastic reduction of centrifuges or of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium. Most ominously, it made no meaningful effort to roll back Iran’s progress toward completing a heavy water reactor that could produce weapons-grade plutonium.

In exchange for conceding nothing of substance, Iran was offered sanctions relief on gold purchases, access to frozen assets worth billions of dollars, a lifting of restrictions on sales of petrochemical products (one of Iran’s key exports) and a relaxation of aviation and automotive industry sanctions. Considering that all three sectors are controlled by the Iranian government, the Supreme Leader’s sprawling business empire and the Revolutionary Guards, it is remarkable that US, British and German diplomats thought this was a good idea.

Making concessions on all three fronts will provide a much-needed cash injection to Iran’s leading proliferators. It will also open up those industrial sectors where dual-use technology is most common — both the car industry and the petrochemical sector rely on machinery that can be used for centrifuge production and enrichment activities.

So much for the relief — not to help ordinary Iranians get by, but to enable the regime to reach the nuclear finish line while feigning innocence.

A question lingers as media and pundits dissect the events and issue post-mortems: Why did France scuttle the deal? The answers vary. They include: French vainglory (pretending to be world leaders again); French business greed (getting ahead of America in arms sales to Gulf countries); one particularly amusing story about a Jewish member of parliament warning Mr Fabius that Benjamin Netanyahu would bomb Iran; and one less amusing insinuation that claims that Mr Fabius blocked the compromise because of his Jewish ancestry.

Israel can presumably communicate its displeasure to France without relying on a hitherto unknown member of the French National Assembly. And while the French may wish to sell their fighters to the Saudis, their business would benefit more from the lifting of sanctions.

The facts are simpler. The deal was bad. And France, having been through ten years of intense negotiations and countless Iranian volte-faces, did not wish to sign off a deal which would leave Iran’s ability to cross the finish line substantially intact while releasing the pressure that brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place.

Vive la France then. The deal that was not may still be revived. But if the French are truly committed to non-proliferation — and they gave the world every reason to believe so in their decade-long participation in the P5+1 negotiations with Iran — then they will guarantee that US President Barack Obama’s words that “no deal is better than a bad deal” was not just an empty promise.

 

Emanuele Ottolenghi is a Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defence of Democracies, Washington DC

Previous Post

This deal won’t seal itself

Next Post

Standing with an oppressed  people

Related Posts

Commentary

Trump has Achance to Strike a Deal with Iran

President Trump Shouldn’t Forget the Iranian People
Commentary

President Trump Shouldn’t Forget the Iranian People

Commentary

On Saudi Arabia and Iran: tread lightly

Next Post

Standing with an oppressed  people

Evin doctor now is Evin inmate

Evin doctor now is Evin inmate

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertising
  • Subscription
  • Culture
  • Economy
Call us: +1 (202)-659-9868

© 1970-2025 Iran Times - ‬An‭ ‬Independent‭ ‬Newspaper

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • What’s the News
  • Diaspora
  • Economy
  • Tidbits and Morsels
  • Latest
  • About Us
  • Advertising
  • Subscription

© 1970-2025 Iran Times - ‬An‭ ‬Independent‭ ‬Newspaper

Are you sure want to unlock this post?
Unlock left : 0
Are you sure want to cancel subscription?
Go to mobile version