Iran and six world powers announced a further extension of talks on the country's nuclear program on Tuesday, with hopes of reaching a final agreement by the end of June.
But regardless of whether a deal is ultimately reached, and despite the Obama administration's insistence on striking an accord with Iran, there are significant reasons why the Islamic Republic cannot be trusted.
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1. Iran has previously lied about its intentions regarding its nuclear program, maintaining that it is designed strictly for peaceful purposes. But in November 2010, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) released a report stating that inspectors had found credible evidence that Iran had been conducting experiments aimed at designing a nuclear weapon until 2003, and that research may have continued after that. The IAEA stated: "Iran has carried out activities relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device."
2. Iran remains a sworn enemy of the U.S., despite the negotiations with America and its allies. In late March, a speech by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei was interrupted by the chant of "Death to America." He smiled and responded, "Of course yes, death to America."
3. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani has lied in the past about human rights in Iran. He declared that "ethnicities, all religions, even religious minorities, must feel justice." But his regime has executed Iranian Kurds and Araba, imprisoned Christians, and hanged a 26-year-old woman who killed her rapist, a former Iranian intelligence officer.
4. Rouhani has lied about freedom of the press in Iran, saying in 2013 that his regime has not blocked any "important piece of news" from the country. But an Iranian journalist who defected on Saturday said Tehran tightly controls the media and journalists' "main job is to make sure that all the news fed back to Iran goes through their channels."
5. Rouhani demonstrated his duplicity when he was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator in 2003. His spokesman bragged that through negotiations, "the world gradually came close to believing that Iran's nuclear activities posed no security or military threat."
6. Iran has religious justification for lying and misleading. Taqiyya is the Shiite religious rationale for concealment or dissimulation in political or worldly affairs. Iranian leaders can believe that they are obliged by their faith not to tell the truth.
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7. Iran could kick out the nuclear inspectors. Even if the country does reach an agreement to allow inspectors in to monitor its nuclear program, it could always do what North Korea did in the 1990s and kick them out.
8. The Iranians have balked at formally signing off on an agreement regarding its nuclear program, instead suggesting that they prefer an oral agreement. The West would have nothing on paper to point to if Iran suddenly voided the deal.
9. Former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said, "You absolutely cannot trust [the Iranians]," noting that they have given the IAEA "the runaround" and "hid their nuclear program for decades."
10. Leon Panetta also said they can't be trusted. Obama's former defense secretary and CIA chief once said: "One thing I've learned both at the CIA and as secretary of defense is that the Iranians can't be trusted."
11. There's no surefire way to make sure Iran is following the rules of any deal. While U.S. National Security Adviser Susan Rice declared that there will be a "distrust and verify" approach to Iran's nuclear program, she has offered no ironclad method to assure that promise.
11. Tehran has recently stepped back from proposals it previously indicated it might accept, including the shipment of its enriched uranium stocks to Russia.
12. Iran has never stepped back from its vow to "wipe Israel off the map."
14. Iran has achieved ballistic missile capability along with its nuclear program, an ominous development suggesting that, despite any agreement, the Iranians remain intent on acquiring nuclear weapons.
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