Washington:
The President held up the single sheet of paper and glared at the arrayed suits and military uniforms around the table. "Whose idea was this?"
The Secretary of Defence replied, "One of my staffers."
The President fixed him, "And you thought this was a good idea?"
The Secretary of Defence did not immediately respond.
The President waved the paper at them all, and they desperately tried to gauge his reaction.
The President released them from the torture, "I like it, clever, very clever, I like it a lot; let's see what they do with this, I like it a lot."
Geneva:
This was not how these negotiations were conducted; there was no precedent for this. The two men stood facing one another in the small room, and after the handshake, the US Secretary of State gave the Iranian Foreign Minister the single sheet of paper.
The Iranian Foreign Minister stared in disbelief. The page contained a single demand of Iran.
The US Secretary of State said, "Meet this demand and there will be no bombing, we will set a timetable to reopen diplomatic relations between Iran and the US and end all sanctions."
The Iranian Foreign Minister stared at him, for once, speechless.
The Secretary of State continued, "We will release this demand to the press in twenty-four hours, and if your country does not agree to this within a week, we will ensure that your infrastructure cannot produce a nuclear weapon for the foreseeable future."
The threat was clear. The whole world knew that the fleet of B-2 bombers with their huge ground-penetrating munitions was ready to fly.
"Our Supreme Leader will never agree to this."
"Well, your country will suffer for his ideology."
"This is pointless, I cannot take this back to Tehran."
"You take it, or the world's press will deliver it. If you take it, you have twenty-four hours to convince your clerics to see sense."
"This is fundamental to our beliefs."
"Well, all I can say is, your citizens will continue to pay an ever-increasing price for your medieval beliefs."
"That is offensive. We have a right to self-determination, and these are our beliefs, and we have history on our side."
"That's just what people say; no one has history on their side; history will not deliver a better life for 85 million Iranians. We are done being diplomats, Minister. It's time to choose."
Tehran:
They sat in their dark robes listening to the Supreme Leader explain why the godless Americans would never defeat them. He waved the sheet of paper that had travelled halfway across the world, with its single sentence in English and Farsi, in bold type. It did not even carry the American President's seal. It was an insult to the Iranian people.
They knew not to argue, knowing that no amount of reason would prevail, quietly calculating what would happen in less than a week. They nodded their tacit agreement to their Leader's wisdom.
Social Media:
The Demand the American President was making of the Iranian leadership was to: 'Ask the citizens of Iran in a free referendum whether to continue to call for the destruction of the state of Israel, or for Iran to reject this policy.'
The White House made it clear that a Statement from the Iranian Supreme Leader, indicating that this referendum would take place, had to be forthcoming by midnight in Tehran, within six days, to prevent the bombing of the Iranian nuclear sites.
Tehran:
The televised statement from the Supreme Leader began as the bombers neared their targets. The Israelis had achieved complete air supremacy in the skies above the entire country weeks earlier, and the ancient lands lay open and vulnerable. The two pilots in each B-2 waited for the final authorisation to free their weapons, a call that might come in seconds, relayed from the President, seated at his desk in the Oval Office in Washington.
The Supreme Leader began his speech, and a few seconds later, it was clear which path he had chosen. In Tehran, millions of people pulled on their coats and picked up their banners. Days of fearful speculation and fevered planning, now delivered citizens across the country onto the streets. The footfall of tens of millions of people wanting only freedom from tyranny drowned out the bass thunder of the distant bombs tearing apart the earth.
