April 9, 2015

To the Editor:

“Israel’s Unworkable Demands on Iran” (editorial, April 8) asserts that Israel’s demands for revising the proposed nuclear agreement with Iran are “unrealistic and, if pursued, would not mean a better deal but no deal at all.”

One demand is that international monitors be able to conduct inspections “anywhere, anytime.”

In advocating for the deal, President Obama has repeatedly relied upon what he has called the “vigorous inspections, unprecedented” under which we would know “exactly what they’re doing” as the fundamental basis for relying on the deal. Yet the president concedes, as does your editorial, that Iran could object to an inspection request and, at a minimum, the inspection would be delayed while an outside “commission” resolved the impasse — obviously giving Iran time to conceal what a snap inspection might have revealed.

If the Iranians do not plan to surreptitiously pursue a nuclear weapon, they have nothing to hide and no reason to object to a truly robust inspection plan. If they can’t accept that, the rest of the deal’s provisions are worthless.

NATHAN J. DIAMENT

Washington

To read this letter in the New York Times, click here.