The Washington Post reports:

The accumulating evidence of Iran’s nuclear momentum emerges as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton conceded Monday that the White House has little to show for nearly a year of diplomatic engagement with Iran over its nuclear ambitions. “I don’t think anyone can doubt that our outreach has produced very little in terms of any kind of a positive response from the Iranians,” Clinton told reporters.

So in other words, rather than pursuing regime change or using evidence of the Qom enrichment reactor to garner support for those “crippling sanctions,” we frittered away another year, allowing the mullahs to solidify power and the Iran nuclear program to advance. And it certainly has advanced, as the report notes:

The internal documents and expert analysis point to a growing Iranian mastery of disciplines including uranium metallurgy, heavy-water production and the high-precision explosives used to trigger a nuclear detonation. Although U.S. spy agencies have thought that Iran’s leaders halted research on nuclear warheads in 2003, European and Middle Eastern analysts point to evidence that Iran has continued to hone its skills, as recently as 2007.

Hmm. That would be the 2007 National Intelligence Estimate declaring that Iran had dropped its nuclear military ambitions. Turns out that it was bunk. And knowing it was bunk and that the Qom and perhaps other facilities were under development, one has to wonder why the Obami wasted time in a fruitless effort to engage a regime bent on brutalizing its own people, supporting terror groups, and acquiring a nuclear blackmail card.

We’re told that the Obama administration intends to press forward on sanctions next year. Perhaps, and maybe the Obama team can avoid the endless haggling and watering down that will be needed to get others on board. And then we’ll see if the sanctions have any real impact. And then we’ll argue about whether they “worked.” And then there’ll be more talks. But in the meantime, the entire process has been delayed for yet another year as the Iranians inch forward to the day when they will declare themselves a nuclear power. And soon, I suspect, we will hear that “containment” is really the only option left. One wonders if that wasn’t the end game all along.

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