Trust, but verify: good advice

Seattle Times: A peaceful, diplomatic resolution to oversight of Iran's nuclear aspirations has been negotiated by Europeans and endorsed by the U.N. nuclear agency. They bear the burden of making it work.
From a U.S. perspective, Iran is not to be trusted, period. Bad feelings extend back to the Carter-era hostage crisis, and nothing about the tortuous path of these latest talks suggests Iran is suddenly trustworthy. The nations that decided otherwise must be guided by President Ronald Reagan's Cold War dictum -- trust, but verify. The Bush administration protested the talks at every step of the way, as well as any sense of leniency for Iran, but never with any particular authority or intensity. Distracted by events in Iraq and too resource poor to lead effectively with carrots or threaten with a stick, the White House deferred to others.
Track record
That was not an unreasonable proposition. Indeed, U.N. weapons inspectors had done a good job of dogging Saddam Hussein after the Persian Gulf War.
Now, let the International Atomic Energy Agency do its work monitoring Iran's pledge to forgo nuclear-research activities with suspect dual purposes.
Iran's pledge to behave is worthless. While Iranian and European negotiators succeeded in avoiding international penalties and sanctions, the brokered deal does not let Europe and the U.N. off the hook for ensuring compliance.
Aggressive, definitive and successful monitoring are the best tools to build trust in future diplomacy and undermine those who want to turn more quickly to armed persuasion.
Nuclear nonproliferation takes more than a handshake to be a reality.