On the conclusion of a deal yesterday at Geneva intended to curb Iran’s nuclear activities, Mohammad Javad Zarif, the Islamic Republic’s Foreign Minister, made an unintentionally revealing statement. The agreement, he said, was an opportunity to remove any doubts about the peaceful intent of Iran’s nuclear programme; and Iran had not given up its right to enrich uranium.

Those two things cannot both be true. An agreement, even one explicitly intended as an interim measure, that acquiesces in Iran’s demand for access to the full fuel cycle does not serve world peace. Diplomatic pressure and sanctions have forced the Iranian regime to the negotiating table. In the Geneva deal, it has been granted achingly generous terms that it has not earned.

The record of its past behaviour suggests that Tehran will bank these concessions and then carry on as before. That is not good enough. Iran’s conduct is a threat to the peace and stability of the Middle East. The agreement, by an excess of good faith in the power of diplomacy, gives Tehran encouragement to carry on.

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