On Wednesday 23 October I went to hear ambassador Thomas Pickering speaking about US Iran Relations.
He first focuses on the history of the relationship. First, Iran was focused on economic development, specifically with their nuclear program. They even promoted education of nuclear physics and other nuclear technologies. Their focus was on plutonium production and uranium enrichment. Many other nations, through the UN, began to worry about this. In return, Iran went into a two year standstill to show that everyone could trust them. The US was not involved but made it clear that they did not want Iran to go back to doing this. The Obama administration believed in containment without production and wanted nuclear inspection program. Then, in January of 2015 an agreement was made for limited enrichment and remodification of machinery. There was also an agreement to not make nuclear weapons nor burning of fuel in these power reactors.
When the Trump administration took office the US was pulled out of the agreement, which means we were no longer monitoring Iran. Iran has increased both the quantity and quality of enrichment. They have also increased violent events but there has been no major military retaliation. There are many theories of where we go from here, the majority of which including negotiations rather than violence, to which Pickering adds that it is much easier to pay diplomats than to afford war. Pickering ended on a note of solving problems through one on one contact and continuing these conversations between the two places. Even though they do things we don’t like but vice versa, you can’t negotiate peace with your allies.
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