Peter Jenkins: The Deal the West could strike with Iran

The Iranian nuclear controversy is reaching a critical juncture. Yesterday, the EU agreed on an oil embargo as part of sanctions against the country. On Sunday, Britain, America and France sent warships through the Strait of Hormuz. Recent months have seen a big rise in the twin risks of military action and grave damage to the world economy. This is the consequence of what I believe to be a great diplomatic over-bid: the West's demand that Iran surrender its capacity to enrich uranium. Nine years have passed since I first talked to Iranian diplomats about their nuclear program. Then, I was Britain's representative at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and I disbelieved the reassuring words of my Iranian interlocutors about their commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). At the time, I was all for denying Iran any capacity relevant to making nuclear weapons. Now, however, I see things differently: The NPT prohibits the manufacture or acquisition of nuclear weapons, but it permits the uranium enrichment that has been at the heart of the West's quarrel with Iran. I say "the West's quarrel" because more has changed since 2003 than my beliefs. Then, almost all states that make up the membership of the IAEA were angry that Iran had concealed its research into enriching uranium. They backed the West's demand that Iran account for its secret work, and they supported the West's view that Iran must suspend enrichment until that accounting was complete.