Politics drives opposition to Iran deal

ON CINCO DE MAYO, the Albuquerque Journal published an editorial titled “U.S, key partners should overhaul Iran nuclear deal.” This editorial showed an ignorance of the technical merit of the (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action); it also misstated some of the provisions. The opposition to this agreement is based solely on political motives, not science and technology.

My field is Nuclear Safeguards and Nonproliferation; I am well aware of the provisions of the JCPOA which, in my opinion, is excellent and far better than I ever expected. If followed by all seven parties, it blocks all avenues for Iran to develop nuclear weapons.

I set up a program at LANL that’s been part of the initial training of every IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) inspector since 1980. I know and helped train all the senior inspectors who inspect Iran, and the person who heads the Iran Inspection Group is an old and dear friend.

The dog-and-pony show that Bibi Netanyahu recently gave pretending to expose Iranian “cheating” contained absolutely no information that hasn’t been known from at least 2003.

Iran did have a clandestine nuclear weapons development program from the end of the Iraq-Iran war until the IAEA and Iran announced the program’s existence and its end in 2003. A National Intelligence Estimate in 2007, signed by all 15 Intelligence Community agencies, certified that Iran had, in fact, ceased all weapons related research in 2003.

Netanyahu’s opposition to the Iran Deal is pure hypocrisy; Israel has the third largest nuclear arsenal in the world and the ability to deliver them anywhere, including Europe and the USA. T. DOUGLAS REILLY Los Alamos