The Iranian regime and its defenders are well-known for having good (if selective) memories, particularly when it comes to stockpiling a list of particulars for use against their opponents. For years, criticisms of Iran's nuclear program and its sponsorship of terrorism have been deflected, and Iran's activities rationalized as responses to the traumatic events of the past, suffered at the hands of parties like the CIA or the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company.
Critics of the regime's behavior, rhetoric and policies are also frequently subjected to baseless attacks on their motivations and character. For example, opponents of Iran's nuclear program are accustomed to being labeled warmongers, Zionists, "neocons," racists or a combination of all.
So it was not surprising when the regime and its allies responded to the recent breakdown in P5+1 Geneva talks with outlandish and inappropriate accusations against reported holdout France and its Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, including allegations of racism and xenophobia.
The attacks were as misguided as they were impolite. In reality, France's intervention in the discussions and its involvement in the drafting of the final text were no surprise to longtime followers of the multilateral discussions on Iran's nuclear program. French diplomats are well-known to be vigilant experts in the field of nuclear proliferation, who bring an especially technical and scientific approach to diplomacy.
It's surreal that France's motives would be so quickly questioned, given Iran's decades-long track record of misbehavior. Fabius himself is uniquely positioned to evaluate the Iranian threat, as his tenure in government happened to coincide with a period of robust and expansive Iranian and Iranian proxy terrorist activities targeting French nationals and interests. Fabius served in various positions in the French government during the 1980s and 1990s, including as prime minster. During this period Iran and its proxies were responsible for a series of deadly and illegal acts, including the kidnapping of at least 15 Frenchmen in Lebanon between 1982 and 1992, hijackings of Air France planes in 1983 and 1987, multiple assassinations and assassination attempts in France against Iranian exiles and opposition members and of course the French barracks bombing in 1983 that killed 58 French paratroopers. It was France's single worst military loss since the end of the Algerian War.
Clearly, experience -- not racism -- is the likely reason for Paris' distrust of the Iranian regime's interlocutors in Geneva. The real question is why similar skepticism is not being voiced by the numerous other nations that carry similar scars of Iranian terrorism, kidnapping and destabilization -- including, especially, the U.S.
New Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and his cohorts have been in power just over three months and many members of the international community have either chosen to overlook Iran's ongoing record of terrorism and deception, or have been deceived by the so-called charm offensive of Rouhani and his smooth-talking foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
The uncomplicated truth is that the Iranian regime is a longtime bad actor both internationally and at home. Rouhani and Zarif may be erudite, professional and rhetorically different from their predecessors, but they are indisputably insiders of a regime that has openly deceived the international community for years, systematically violated international law, threatened sovereign nations with annihilation and killed hundreds of U.S. troops.
After 34 years of hostility, the international community should demand much more from Iran than 100 days of rhetoric before acquiescing to a deal that does not fully mitigate the Iranian nuclear threat. More specifically, the P5+1 should at the very least require that Iran comply with demands to suspend all enrichment related and reprocessing activities -- a demand which the same P5 has enshrined in its own Security Council resolutions.
Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and its nuclear program represents the greatest threat to the nonproliferation regime. The remaining members of the P5+1 should be standing with France to ensure the effective fulfillment of the Security Council's mandate to ensure global stability and peace.
Experience is life's best teacher. Apparently it takes more than 100 days for Fabius and the French to get over the painful experiences of Iranian terrorism, kidnapping and murder. Bravo. The French, thankfully, have long memories too, and they just may have saved the international community from making a colossal mistake.
