A very interesting article published by Chatham House by Sir Simon Gass former British Ambassador to Iran – link below – about how to ensure Iran does comply with terms of the agreement signed with the P5+1 government beyond the 15 year threshold as indicated by the agreement in terms of uranium stockpile. While this is all good and well, in my view we seem to be applying too much focus on symptoms of problems rather than root causes. As such it is absolutely critical that we apply to a double tracked system, one rightly dealing with terms of the agreement but more significantly the other focusing on resolving the political conflict escalating in the region of the Sunni – Shiite divide and Iran’s direct role in them as well as its role in other regional conflicts. As part of this effort we should also consider opening files of other nations as it relates to nuclear capabilities/ambitions including that of Israel as well as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict because all these are inter-connected and non can be addressed in isolation; we need to be creative yet determined in our approach because we’ve played a key role in the creation of some of these conflicts and have the moral obligation and more importantly the influence to solve them. I would actually go as far as to argue that it is within our own direct national security interest to have a pragmatic resolution to these issues particularly as it relates to our counter terrorism strategy and inevitably affects our economic stability/prosperity. We should start replacing our policy of political appeasement for short term economic/political incentives to one that is effective and long lasting – new leadership/vision is in order supported by a model of decision making that I termed “Strategic Policy Framework” allowing more effective/efficient decision making process that is objective & party politics neutral.
Link to the original article here