Someone, sooner or later, is going to have to deal with the big terrorist-sponsoring elephant in the room that is Iran. For now, for the United States, President Donald Trump has appointed a senior State Department official, Michael Anton, to be that guy.

The Trump administration has named senior State Department official Michael Anton to lead the U.S. technical team in negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program, according to two U.S. officials granted anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomatic discussions.

Anton, the State Department’s policy planning director, is leading a team of about a dozen, largely career officials from across the government to hash out the details of an agreement that would place significant constraints on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

He is set to lead the first round of expert talks with Iranian officials over the weekend before special envoy Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi meet again in Rome next week. Anton accompanied Witkoff to the last round of talks in Rome.

“He is the perfect man for the job given his experience and intellect. Most importantly, he will ensure that President Trump’s agenda on this file is followed through,” an administration official said.

While I'm not a world-class diplomat, the kind of diplomacy that Iran would seem to warrant is the kind that involves saying "Nice doggie, nice doggie" until you can find a rock. These are not civilized people; these are not people who will keep any agreement they make. Presumably, Michael Anton is aware of this.

Here's the part I don't get:

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in an interview with the Free Press released Wednesday that the U.S. was pursuing an arrangement that would allow Iran to import enriched uranium fuel so that Tehran could have a civilian nuclear program.

“There’s a pathway to a civil, peaceful nuclear program if they want one,” he said. “But if they insist on enriching, then they will be the only country in the world that doesn’t have a ‘weapons program,’ quote-unquote, but is enriching … that’s problematic.”

Didn't I just write something about them not being trustworthy? If Iran ever possesses the ability to make a nuclear weapon, it'll make a nuclear weapon. They are sitting on ample fossil fuels; they don't need nuclear power. They can't be trusted with nuclear power - forget hot rocks, they can't be trusted with anything that would allow them to make a dirty bomb.

Israel seems to understand this.

See Also: Report: Israel Might Take Limited Military Action vs. Iran Under Certain Conditions

Unexpected: Dem Senator Says We Should Blast Iran's Nuclear Weapons Program to Smithereens

So does Steve Witkoff:

Witkoff has publicly shifted his stance on the talks since last week. After telling The Wall Street Journal and Fox News last week that the U.S. would focus on verification in any agreement, Witkoff later said the U.S. would not allow Iran to enrich uranium at all.

That's got to be the final word. Iran shouldn't have any enriched uranium. They shouldn't have any uranium at all. No reactors, no centrifuges, no nothing, no kidding. Now that will be difficult to enforce and nearly impossible, I'm guessing, to get them to agree to. But that should be the end goal, regardless.

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