For several hold-your-breath weeks, as spring sizzled into summer, the nuclear dealmakers of President Donald Trump’s USA and the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s Iran seemed astonishingly close to a deal.

So close that it seemed they’d soon reach out and seize the deal. But no one was willing to reach out.

First, on May 13, Iran’s chief proposer, Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, proposed solving our nuclear bomb fears by creating something few of us had considered: a regional nuclear power consortium to produce only low-grade enriched uranium to supply electricity for its Persian Gulf members – namely: Iran and its present adversaries, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates. The consortium’s efforts would be internationally monitored by the United Nations’ International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Perhaps also the United States?

Two weeks later, during talks in Oman, Trump’s chief proposer, envoy-of-all-things Steve Witkoff, proposed just a slight variation on Iran’s regional nuclear consortium. Team Trump even named the same countries and added one more: Oman. Of course he included roles for the U.S. and the permanent presence of the IAEA, to finally guarantee transparency.

There was one key difference – but it too should be solvable. Iran has said it will never surrender its right to enrich........

© The Korea Times