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The negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 over Tehran's nuclear enrichment activities have failed to reach an agreement, and Iran is much closer to mastering the technology of nuclear weapons. Many factors precipitated this breakdown, including the West's inability to handle the Iranian psychology, the failure to pose severe enough punitive measures in case of Iran's defiance, and the misleading U.S. policy that gave Iran room to maneuver. There is a need for new strategy toward Iran consisting of three tracks of separate but interconnected negotiations: (1) focus on the negotiations on Iran's enrichment program and the economic incentive package; (2) concentrate on regional security and the consequences of continued Iranian defiance; and (3) address Iran's and the United States' grievances against each other. The U.S. must initiate all three tracks to avoid failure in negotiations that would leave the West and Israel facing a nuclear Iran.
THE NATURE OF US-IRAN RELATIONS
The relationship between the United States and Iran has increasingly been deteriorating, especially since Tehran began to flex its muscles following the Iraq war in 2003 and its insistence on maintaining its uranium enrichment program. Both sides have grievances against each other that date back to the 1979 Iranian Revolution and beyond. The American lack of understanding of the Iranian national psyche, history, religion, culture and strategic interests and Iran's display of the same attitude toward the United States has compounded the problems and hampered any tangible progress. The Bush administration's refusal to negotiate directly with Tehran and its preoccupation in Iraq has played to the advantage of the clergy allowing them time for nuclear advancement with impunity. The Iranian government feels it now has a momentous opportunity to realize the country's centuries-old dream of becoming a respected power ready to reclaim its rightful position on the world's stage.
From the Iranian perspective, decades of being abused by Western powers - especially the United States - came to an end with the Islamic revolution. Ironically, the Bush administration's decision to topple Saddam Hussein has, in effect, ended America's dual containment policy of Iraq and Iran leaving Tehran to claim the spoils of the Iraq war. They moved swiftly to take advantage of the chaotic war conditions, exploiting their close ties to the...