Iran’s Diplomatic Rope-a-Dope Strategy

James Phillips / April 22, 2010

After rebuffing the Obama Administration’s effort at diplomatic engagement for more than a year, Iran suddenly has seen the advantages of launching its own diplomatic counteroffensive to stave off impending U.N. sanctions. The Washington Post reported that Iran’s regime soon will dispatch diplomatic emissaries to every member of the U.N. Security Council (except the United States) to revive stalled talks on a nuclear fuel swap proposal that was brokered by the International Atomic Energy Agency last fall. By inflating hopes for a diplomatic resolution of the nuclear standoff, Tehran also seeks to lure the United States into more time-consuming negotiations and drain off support for another round of sanctions at the Security Council.

We have seen this movie before. Last October the Obama Administration thought it had an agreement with Tehran to exchange the bulk of Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium for fuel for its research reactor, only to be left in the lurch when Iran suddenly reversed course and rejected the deal. It turned out that the administration had bought into an “agreement in principle” with a regime that had no principles. (more…)