President Obama’s diplomatic deal with Iran

AFTER 30 years of hostile relations, the US and Iran have finally come up with a deal that satisfies both parties and opens the way for their cooperation in the fight against ISIS in Iraq. This final agreement was negotiated by the US and the five major global powers – Britain, Germany, France, Russia, and China. For the US the primary importance of this new deal with Iran is that it has been reached by peaceful means. China and Russia see the new agreement as a pathway for future arms sales. Russia’s President Putin commented that “We are confident that the world has breathed a sigh of relief.”

To those who doubted that Iran would stick to its side of the bargain, President Obama retorted that the deal was not built on trust. “It is built on verification.”

In this new agreement, Iran gets to keep its nuclear program. Iran’s president, Hasan Rouhani, has insisted, ever since his election in 2013, that he was ready to make a deal that would lift the economic sanctions in exchange for Iran keeping its nuclear program, which Iran claims in peaceful. In the current 100-page agreement, the infrastructure of Iran’s present nuclear program is left intact. Centrifuges will continue spinning, although in lesser quantities, and uranium will be enriched, although at lower levels. And Iran’s enrichment site will be allowed to remain where it is, provided that it is only used for research. If the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) identifies a suspicious site, it can request an inspection. If Iran should refuse, an arbitration panel will be established to decide whether Iran must open the site.

World leaders hailed this new agreement. President Obama said that this agreement vindicated the 13 years of diplomatic effort that preceded it, and offered an opportunity for the US to reset its relations with Iran. “We have stopped the spread of nuclear weapons in the region.” “This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction. We should seize it.”

And if Iran should refuse to follow some measures in the agreement “all sanctions would snap back into place.”

Russia’s president, Vladimer Putin, said that Russia would do “everything in its power to ensure the agreement works.”

Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, voiced the only note of dissent, calling the agreement “a historical mistake for the world.” Through the easing of sanctions, Netanyahu warned, “Iran will get hundreds of millions of dollars with which it will be able to fuel its terror machine.”

The US Congress has 60 days to approve or reject the agreement.