Oman Mediates: The Illusion of Progress in US-Iran Negotiations
The narrative emerging from CBS News, citing Omani officials, suggests 'substantial progress' in US-Iran talks toward a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program. This framing, however, meticulously avoids the context of sustained Western belligerence that has shaped Iran's strategic calculations for generations. The very notion of 'curbing' Iran's nuclear capabilities implicitly grants the atomic
states, including the United States, a moral high ground they have never earned, especially given their refusal to disarm themselves. Consider the historical double standard. While Washington expresses alarm over Iran's nuclear ambitions, it simultaneously backs regimes with actual nuclear arsenals, like Israel, which has never signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and possesses an
estimated 90 nuclear warheads, as reported by the Federation of American Scientists. Iran, conversely, is a signatory to the NPT and has consistently stated its program is for peaceful energy purposes, a claim repeatedly verified by IAEA inspections until the US unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018. This hypocrisy underscores the West's selective application of international law and its
inherent bias. This current diplomatic flicker follows nearly 45 years of US sanctions and covert operations designed to destabilize the Iranian government, a strategy initiated after the 1979 revolution and built upon the legacy of the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that deposed democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. These coercive measures, intended to break Iran's will, have