Could there be a negotiated settlement to the Iran nuclear threat?
The danger to the world of Iran acquiring the capacity to manufacture and launch nuclear weapons – seen by Israel especially as an existential threat – seems to have been running for ever. It was six years ago that I did a posting about serious predictions that Israel would launch an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities in the coming year. It hasn’t happened – thanks goodness.
But, in the intervening years, we have had constant forecasts – especially from Israel – that a point of no return was approaching which would make a military strike inevitable. I have blogged regularly about the issue – insert ‘Iran’ in search box to see all these postings.
Now, as a constrast to all these warnings and threats, in an article published today, Shashank Joshi argues that there is the opportunity for a negotiated settlement to the international dispute but he warns that the window of opportunity for such negotiations is only a matter of months in the first half of 2013. It sounds as if it is worth a serious effort.
While I am writing about Iran, let me remind readers that I have visited the nation [my account here] and this inspired me to write a short story featuring the country [text here].