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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Nov-2013
25-Nov-13 World View -- 'Historic' Iran nuclear deal raises worldwide controversy

Web Log - November, 2013

25-Nov-13 World View -- 'Historic' Iran nuclear deal raises worldwide controversy

Members of Congress from both parties object to Iran deal

This morning's key headlines from GenerationalDynamics.com

President Obama hails historic Iran nuclear agreement
Israel's Netanyahu condemns a historic mistake
Nuclear deal greeted with joy in Iran and Russia
Members of Congress from both parties object to Iran deal

President Obama hails historic Iran nuclear agreement

Foreign ministers from (L-R) Iran, EU, U.S. and France laugh and hug after reaching agreement in Geneva on Sunday (AFP)

Foreign ministers from (L-R) Iran, EU, U.S. and France laugh and hug after reaching agreement in Geneva on Sunday (AFP)

Iran and six major powers, meeting in Geneva, agreed Sunday morning on a historic deal that freezes key parts of Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for temporary relief on some economic sanctions.

President Barack Obama hailed the agreement:

"Today, that diplomacy opened up a new path toward a world that is more secure -- a future in which we can verify that Iran’s nuclear program is peaceful and that it cannot build a nuclear weapon.
While today’s announcement is just a first step, it achieves a great deal. For the first time in nearly a decade, we have halted the progress of the Iranian nuclear program, and key parts of the program will be rolled back. Iran has committed to halting certain levels of enrichment and neutralizing part of its stockpiles. Iran cannot use its next-generation centrifuges, which are used for enriching uranium. Iran cannot install or start up new centrifuges, and its production of centrifuges will be limited. Iran will halt work at its plutonium reactor. And new inspections will provide extensive access to Iran’s nuclear facilities and allow the international community to verify whether Iran is keeping its commitments.
These are substantial limitations which will help prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Simply put, they cut off Iran’s most likely paths to a bomb. Meanwhile, this first step will create time and space over the next six months for more negotiations to fully address our comprehensive concerns about the Iranian program. And because of this agreement, Iran cannot use negotiations as cover to advance its program."

White House and Washington Post

Israel's Netanyahu condemns a historic mistake

Directly contradicting Obama's statement that the nuclear agreement with Iran opened "a new path to world that is more secure," Israel's Benjamin Netanyahu said that the world had become a more dangerous place:

"What was accomplished last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement; it’s a historic mistake,” Netanyahu said at the start of Sunday morning’s weekly cabinet meeting. “Today the world has become much more dangerous, because the most dangerous regime in the world took a meaningful step toward acquiring the most dangerous weapon in the world.
For the first time the world’s leading powers agreed to the enrichment of uranium in Iran, while ignoring the Security Council resolutions that they themselves championed,” the prime minister said. “These sanctions have been removed for cosmetic Iranian concessions that can be canceled in weeks. This agreement and what it means threaten many countries, and including, of course, Israel. Israel is not bound by this agreement. The regime in Iran is committed to Israel’s destruction and Israel has the right and responsibility to defend itself, by itself, against any threat."

The Arab states have been largely quiet so far about the deal, but Abdullah al-Askar, a foreign affairs official from Saudi Arabia, said:

"I am afraid Iran will give up something on to get something else from the big powers in terms of regional politics. And I'm worrying about giving Iran more space or a freer hand in the region.
The government of Iran, month after month, has proven that it has an ugly agenda in the region, and in this regard no one in the region will sleep and assume things are going smoothly."

Askar added that if Iran builds a bomb, then a number of other countries will do the same, including "Egypt, maybe Turkey, Saudi Arabia, maybe the Emirates." Times of Israel and Reuters

Nuclear deal greeted with joy in Iran and Russia

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov laughs hysterically as his car pulls away from the conference venue (AFP)

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov laughs hysterically as his car pulls away from the conference venue (AFP)

The nuclear deal was hailed as a victory by the two most powerful men in the country, supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and president Hassan Rouhani. The general public greeted the agreement with joy and pleasure, because it signaled the beginning of the end of Western sanctions that had hobbled the economy. Many of them thanked Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif for negotiating the deal.

"Thank you negotiators! Thank you Mr Zarif!"
"God bless you smiling man. Your smile has made a nation happy."

Russia's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov called it a "win-win" for everyone:

"The very long and difficult negotiations on the Iranian nuclear program have ended, an agreement has been reached, and this deal crowns [our] longstanding relations, during which we’ve seen both ups and downs. ...
Iran has agreed to a range of additional measures apart from those that the agency is already undertaking. So I believe that in the long run, it’s win-win for everyone. [The negotiators] felt that the declarations [from Iran] about wishing to find a solution had a serious basis. This became apparent in the negotiating positions of our Iranian colleagues."

AFP and Russia Today

Members of Congress from both parties object to Iran deal

According to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, Iran has the right to a peaceful nuclear program, but does not have the right to enrich uranium or plutonium. According to Iran's foreign minister Javad Zarif, Iran has a sacred right to continue to enrich. This disagreement was left unresolved by the deal.

Many people are comparing the Iran situation to that of North Korea. The North Koreans negotiated a deal to get sanctions removed in return for ending their nuclear program, and then they ignored the deal, and now have nuclear weapons.

The Iran sanctions have always been largely bipartisan, and there were bipartisan objections to the Iran deal. Here's the statement of Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss, which is fairly representative of the objections:

"Now is not the time to ease sanctions when they are working. We’ve got all the leverage in the negotiation and we’ve let them out of the trap.
We have trusted the Iranians before just like the North Koreans on nuclear issues, and what have we gotten for it? They continue to hide their development of these weapons. And you know in spite of their agreement here to reduce the enrichment, the 20 percent stockpile they have enriched, they can go to North Korea and buy that from them in a heartbeat.
I think you’re going to see a strong movement in the United States Senate to move ahead to tighten sanctions. Now there will have to be some timeframe in there. They’ve done this deal. And this can be done without the approval of Congress. So for the next six months it looks like this deal is going to be in place. And it may be that we have to pass a resolution that puts sanctions on effective three months, four months, six months, whatever it might be."

According to Senator Carl Levin, Democratic chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, "If Iran does not consent to a comprehensive agreement that ensures it cannot acquire a nuclear weapon, there is a broad consensus in Congress to impose even tougher sanctions." Atlanta Journal-Constitution and AFP

(Comments: For reader comments, questions and discussion, see the 25-Nov-13 World View -- 'Historic' Iran nuclear deal raises worldwide controversy thread of the Generational Dynamics forum. Comments may be posted anonymously.) (25-Nov-2013) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Nov-2013 25-Nov-13 World View -- 'Historic' Iran nuclear deal raises worldwide controversy

President Obama hails historic Iran nuclear agreement

Israel's Netanyahu condemns a historic mistake

Nuclear deal greeted with joy in Iran and Russia

Members of Congress from both parties object to Iran deal

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 25-Nov-2013
25-Nov-13 World View -- 'Historic' Iran nuclear deal raises worldwide controversy