Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad inspects the Natanz nuclear plant in central Iran. Photo: IPO

Iran continues to woo the West in talks over concessions vis-a-vis the country’s nuclear program. But Gary Samore, President of United Against a Nuclear Iran—which describes itself as a non-partisan, broad-based coalition committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons— and formerly one of U.S. President Barack Obama’s point men at the National Security Council on these issues, believes Iran is all style and no substance.

“What they’re offering is really no different than what we’ve heard from the previous government, from Ahmadinejad’s government for the last couple of years,” Samore told journalists on Wednesday. “They continue to reject any physical limits on their enrichment capacity – meaning the number and type of centrifuge machines, the stockpile of enriched material that they have in country.”

Samore said that he remains bearish on the outcome of current talks between Iran and the P5 + 1 countries, in contrast to the optimism voiced by both Iran and the United States.

“I fear that one of the reasons why these negotiations will not proceed to a comprehensive agreement is because the supreme leader [Ayatollah Khamanei] may very well miscalculate and believe that Iran is in a stronger position than it really is. And it may be necessary for the U.S. and its allies to proceed with additional sanctions before he recognizes the need to make any really significant concessions,” Samore said.