The Perpetual 'Nuke Deal' Dance
The story beneath the story: FIRST INSTANCE: The Foundation of Fear (1995) The fear-mongering around Iran's nuclear program isn't new. In 1995, US Secretary of Defense William Perry publicly stated, 'Iran is estimated to be 10 years away from being able to build a nuclear weapon.' This kicked off decades of sanctions and sabre-rattling based on a constantly shifting and unfulfilled timeline. The
'threat' was the feature, not the bug. REPETITIONS: The Boy Who Cried Wolf, with Nukes (2002-Present) Enter Benjamin Netanyahu, the undisputed master of this particular narrative. For over two decades, Netanyahu has leveraged the 'Iran is months away from a bomb' claim to great effect. He first made this assertion in a public address in 2002, stating Iran was 'three years away' from a bomb. He
reiterated it forcefully at the UN in 2012, brandishing a cartoon bomb diagram, claiming Iran would reach 90% enrichment by mid-2013. The goal has consistently been to maintain Western pressure and justify certain regional policies, irrespective of actual intelligence. Curiously, no Iranian bomb has yet materialized, making Netanyahu's predictions less prescient and more, shall we say,
aspirational. OUTCOMES: Sanctions Remain, Enrichment Continues Each cycle of 'imminent threat' has led to more debilitating sanctions, not a cessation of enrichment. The 2015 JCPOA (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) itself, an agreement that restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief, was presented as a triumph of diplomacy over this perennial threat. However, the