In the West’s latest attempt to reign in Iran’s nuclear program, Washington has joined the European Union in offering to conduct nuclear talks with Tehran. The proposal, officially presented to Iran on Tuesday, included an incentives package encompassing trade, security and technology benefits, boosted by a U.S. offer to lift sanctions on Iran (a European proposal the previous month having been rejected—and ridiculed). Of course, the sticking point is, Iran must first agree to suspend uranium enrichment—something it has thus far refused to do.

Two incidents that occurred in this context indicate which party is on its back foot.

In a speech broadcast on Iranian state radio on June 4 in anticipation of the forthcoming offer, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatened the West: “If you make any mistake (punish or attack Iran), definitely shipment of energy from this region will be seriously jeopardized,” he stated (Advertiser, Australia, June 6). Khamenei specifically threatened oil shipments passing through the Strait of Hormuz—a choke point for oil exports to the U.S., Western Europe and Japan.

America’s response was to ignore the threat: “I think that we shouldn’t place too much emphasis on a threat of this kind,” U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said. Oil markets reacted more strongly: The following day, world oil prices rose sharply.

So, while Iran threatens, the West pretends nothing is amiss.

A second telling sign of who is accommodating whom came when, the very day after the proposal was presented, the U.S. and Europe backed off a core demand: Iran would no longer be required to commit to a prolonged freeze on uranium enrichment, but rather just a suspension during talks on its nuclear program. Moreover, the five permanent members of the UN Security Council “say they will allow Iran to continue uranium conversion, a precursor to enrichment, if it agrees to the talks” (Stratfor, June 7).

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has not yet given an official answer. His comments made on Iranian state television Thursday give no indication of compromise: “[T]he Iranian nation will not retreat from the path of progress and obtaining advanced technology one iota,” he said.

We can be sure he’ll push the West just as far as he can. This is a game Iran knows well and is playing skillfully.