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The season of diplomacy on the Iran nuclear issue is once again
approaching. Another harsh winter has passed. Rhetoric has touched a
point of diminishing returns.

The logical conclusion of the sanctions packages of the United
Nations Security Council, the United States and the European Union as
well as the military buildup in the Persian Gulf ought to be the
enforcement of sanctions through high-sea inspections of Iranian
vessels. But that is a route fraught with dangerous consequences as
Tehran will retaliate.

Meanwhile, Tehran has offered a ladder for the US to climb down from
the high horse it mounted - in the nature of the announcement that it
is willing to talk about a nuclear-fuel swap "without preconditions".
Washington has done the right thing to accept the Iranian overture and
European powers are visibly relieved.

United States State Department spokesman Philip Crowley set the ball
rolling on Wednesday when he said, "We obviously are fully prepared to
follow up with Iran on specifics regarding our initial proposal
involving the Tehran research reactor ... as well as, you know, the
broader issues of trying to fully understand the nature of Iran's
nuclear program. We hope to have the same kind of meeting coming up in
the coming weeks that we had last October."

The "initial proposal" Crowley mentioned re... >>>