What has Iran learned?

Iran and the superpowers are very keen on quickly getting a deal done in Geneva, each side for its own reasons: The Iranians because their economy is crumbling (the sanctions are working); the West because it wants to permanently remove the military option from the table, which scares the superpowers more than the Iranians do.

The big story -- the one Jerusalem has been worried about -- was leaked, despite the discretion employed in Geneva, two days ago. Iran has a plan, and it is enchanting to the United Sates. They will suspend some their nuclear activity, and in exchange the West will ease some of the economic sanctions that have been making life difficult for the Iranians. Everyone is happy.

After the deal with Syrian President Bashar Assad to dismantle his country's chemical weapons arsenal, which still promises nothing other than the dictator's survival, a deal is coming together with Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who just a few days ago organized day-of-hate rallies against the U.S. in Tehran. Only Kim Jong-un from North Korea is still waiting for his certificate of legitimacy from Washington, so that everyone can love everyone. Either we live in a strange world, or Israel simply cannot make sense of U.S. President Barack Obama's journey in Wonderland.

Essentially, from the West's perspective, the emerging deal is a significant achievement, because Iran obligates itself to stop enriching uranium to levels of 20 percent. For Iran the deal is a big success because it gives it oxygen in exchange for suspending its nuclear program. Along the way Iran has also learned that it can curse the U.S. and burn its flag and in the same week also receive gifts from it.

If things continue the way they appear today, in six months' time Washington will see that the Iranians have indeed met their end of the agreement, and that they can then remove all of the sanctions. Washington's excuse will be that the agreement in Geneva stopped the Iranian nuclear clock and saved the world.

In this current atmosphere of euphoria, it is a little difficult for Jerusalem to explain to the world that easing sanctions within the existing conditions is exactly like telling the Iranians: "Please, have a bomb."

The amazing thing is that we've already seen this movie, and not too long ago either, with North Korea. The other amazing thing is that Iranians, with the very same Hasan Rouhani (the one who used to head Iran's nuclear negotiations and is now president), have managed to trick the world before. Yet again, just like last time, for the Iranians the purpose of this deal is to rehabilitate their economy while merely suspending their nuclear program, nothing more.

It must be understood that everything we are witnessing in Geneva only appears to be progress. In actuality, things are much more complicated. From Iran's point of view, uranium enrichment is a natural right that it does not want to relinquish. At the same time, the world is still searching for proof that Iran has truly abandoned its aspirations for a nuclear bomb. No one today can say whether the emerging deal will stop Iran's nuclear dreams.

Ever since Rouhani's election victory, we have been living out a script that was already written. In Geneva, for the first time in history, the clock was stopped, but not the bomb. And this is Jerusalem's problem. Luckily for Israel though, this is also the problem of the U.S. Congress.

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