Nuclear deal keeps Iran on a leash
If the agreement collapses, Iran — not the United States or Britain — would regain the most freedom of action
British Foreign Secretary
United States or Britain — would regain the most freedom of action. Without the constraints on their nuclear programme, Iran’s leaders could bring back the centrifuges and rebuild the uranium stockpile.
The outcome would almost certainly be an Iran that strives to restore its capacity as a nuclear threshold state while continuing to threaten Israel and sponsor allies across the Middle East.
What options would the United States and Britain gain? In theory, we could reassess sanctions, but in the meantime we would face all the perils of Iran rebuilding its nuclear programme — and cutting that breakout time to months or weeks.
Tehran’s disruptive role in region
True enough, the nuclear agreement was never intended to resolve all our problems with Iran. In one stricken country after another, Iran’s interventions are causing conflict, whether in Syria or Yemen.
I share America’s strength of feeling over Iran’s disruptive role in the region. You can be sure that Britain stands alongside the United States in resisting Iranian interference.
President Donald Trump is right to insist on rigorous enforcement of the JCPOA; Britain continues to be robust in its defence of these terms. Yes, Iran has benefited from a partial lifting of sanctions, but there is no evidence that the JCPOA has provided a windfall for Iran’s campaigns across the region.
Is there a danger of Iran copying North Korea and building an illicit nuclear arsenal? As it happens, North Korea’s first bombs were made not from uranium but weapons-grade plutonium — and, sure enough, Iran built a plutonium reactor at a place called Arak.
But there the comparison ends. Under the JCPOA, Iran removed the core of that reactor and poured liquid concrete over what remained, rendering Arak permanently incapable of producing anything dangerous.
In the troubled landscape of the Middle East, success is measured by the crises we avoid. The JCPOA has neutralised the supreme danger of a nuclear-armed Iran for at least a decade. That’s one less threat to worry about.