cNewly released U.S. diplomatic cables from WikiLeaks show that the Obama administration, like its predecessors, has played a double game with Iran’s Shiite government, mixing public offers of reconciliation with secret collaboration on hard-line strategies favored by its Sunni Arab rivals and Israel. The classified cables also make clear that the major U.S. news media was mistaken in dumping the blame on Iran for the failed negotiations seeking a swap of Iranian low-enriched uranium for nuclear isotopes…those U.S. gestures were, in part, calculated to fail and thus to justify harsher sanctions..Though the government of Ahmadinejad embraced the idea in fall 2009, agreeing to give up about half of Iran’s low-enriched uranium to get nuclear isotopes for medical research, some of his political opponents–favored by the West – attacked the proposed deal. When Ahmadinejad’s government sought some modifications on how the uranium would be transferred, the Obama administration dismissed any changes and the major U.S. news media jumped on Ahmadinejad for supposedly reneging on the agreement. The cables shed new light on what was actually occurring. The Obama administration wasn’t committed to the swap idea as much as it was using the appearance of negotiations to set the stage for a new round of sanctions. The moves by Iran’s internal opposition to torpedo the deal look different in this context, as possibly a tactic to help the West isolate Ahmadinejad’s government….
