A game of high stakes chess is being played in the Middle East, with Iran at one side of the board and Israel (joined by the United States and other countries negotiating with Iran) at the other.

In this chess game, the Iranian nuclear program is like a pawn Tehran relentlessly pushes forward. In chess, a pawn that reaches the end of the board can be exchanged for a more powerful piece - a queen. But that almost never happens. No skilled player would allow an opponent to advance a pawn that far.

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So it is with Iran's nuclear program. As the negotiations proceed, the pawn steadily advances. The United States and Israel watch warily. They do not want the pawn to become a queen; they do not want to see Iran in possession of a nuclear...