I recently wrote on Obamas first-term progression on Iran, from engagement to saber rattling, as a walk-up to what will be a consequential year of diplomacy between Washington, Jerusalem and Tehran.
Today the Wall Street Journals Gerald Seib takes a closer look at whats coming, with a particular eye to Obamas Israel trip next week. At negotiations in Kazakhstan between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers last month, the U.S. offered to ease sanctions slightly and let Iran keep less than a bombs worth of highly enriched uranium for research purposes in exchange for freezing its enrichment operations at a hard-to-bomb facility at Fordo, and other confidence-building measures.
That offer, reports Seib, left Israel uneasy:
Israel, however, isnt confident. It sees the latest proposal as a rollback from the worlds earlier and tougher positions, which called for shipping out of Iran almost all of its stockpile of even less-well-enriched uranium, and the shutdown rather than merely the suspension of production at the Fordo enrichment facility.
More talks are scheduled for later this month and for April. Watch for signs of friction over Iran when Obama is in Israel next week.