The Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, probably can’t believe his luck. The ink on the press releases from European capitals denouncing his “wiping Israel off the map” comment is not even dry, and the Europeans are reportedly backing a Russian proposal giving dangerous concessions to Iran. Under the proposals Iran would be allowed to convert yellow cake into uranium in exchange for agreeing that its uranium enrichment will only take place in Russia. This is a concession from the previous American-backed European offer of allowing Iran a light-water reactor in exchange for agreeing not to convert uranium. This in turn was a concession from the original Bush administration position that Iran shouldn’t even have a light-water reactor. Each of these concessions came after Iranian refusal to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency and its investigation into Iran’s nuclear program.

The executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, Henry Sokolski, told The New York Sun that under such a deal, if the Iranians also “have covert fuel-making capability it could be a dangerously short period of time” before they have a nuclear bomb. The reported deal therefore could be “technical ly a prescription for a real break out,” Mr. Sokolski said. Even if the Iranians don’t already have a covert fuel-making program they could secretly build one and soon have a nuke.

Iran’s lying about its nuclear program is why we’re in this position in the first place. Those 18 years of lies only caught up with Iran when a dissident group exposed it – not because it admitted its violations nor because the IAEA’s inspectors found it. Yet this proposal would trust the Iranians not to lie and trust the IAEA to catch them if they did. This proposal would also put trust in Russia – which is Iran’s main nuclear supplier and is building its nuclear reactor – to “safeguard” Iran’s uranium enrichment.

Secretary of State Rice yesterday denied that America was party to an agreement, telling reporters: “There is no U.S.-European proposal to the Iranians. I want to say that categorically.” At a State Department briefing a spokesman said that “The Europeans have now, with our support, engaged in a diplomatic process.” So the administration is aware of the negotiations, but just not part of it. It’d be surprising if the Bush administration, which has long made clear that a terrorist state acquiring nuclear weapons is the greatest threat to America’s freedom, allows this.