Sure, he was careful to couch it. But the bottom line is that Zbigniew Brzezinski believes that Iran is willing to abandon its goal of acquiring nuclear weapons.
Jimmy Carter's former national security adviser offered that opinion in response to questioning by former RNC Chairman Michael Steele on today's Morning Joe. Brzezinski also claimed that the recent round of negotiations have been "serious, substantive" and that the Iranians have been "accommodating." View the video after the jump.
Brzezinski asserts that Iranians would be willing to give up their nuclear ambitions in order to end the sanctions that have harmed their economy. He also argued that the recent elections won by what he described as a "relative moderate" shows that the Iranian public is "tired."
Israeli Prime Minister has described the negotiations to date as a "very bad deal." So, is this pragmatic realpolitik by Brzezinski, with a bona fide chance of success, or dangerous naivete?
Note: Brzezinski also swiped at Benjamin Netanyahu and questioned the motives of US Senators who take Netanyahu's point that the current negotiations are a "very bad deal." Said Zbig: "There are some who without too much thinking are listening to foreign advice of the kind that you have displayed like from the prime minister, Netanyahu. They are not being particularly helpful and I'm not sure what their motives are."
MICHAEL STEELE: What indications do we have from Iran that they're going to be serious negotiators and take seriously not just the view of the United States but globally that they do not need, nor should they be allowed to have nuclear weapons?
. . .
ZBIGNIEW BRZEZINSKI: In the actual negotiations that have been going on in the last days, the Iranians have been accommodating. We were very close to it. There were some questions of wording, of precision, of particular limits. But these are substantive negotiations; they're serious.
. . .
MICHAEL STEELE: Do you see them abandoning their nuclear desires?
BRZEZINSKI: Very reluctantly, yes. And what we want to make sure is that this not just an act of accommodation, this is real, this is inspectable, this is enforceable. And that's what these negotiations are about.
