U.S. President Barack Obama made a blunt pitch to his opponents on Capitol Hill to pass his administration’s deal with Iran, under which he promised, “Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off,” yet he vowed to veto any legislation from the Senate that could scupper the agreement.
The President built his for passage of the historic deal by emphasising both the specifics of the intrusive inspection regime that would be put in place as well as the likely costs of rejecting the deal, mainly the spectre of heightened instability in the already-volatile region of West Asia.
Mr. Obama particularly drew attention to the fact that centrifuges, used for uranium enrichment, would be cut by two-thirds; research and new facilities would face restrictions for ten years; Iran’s uranium gas stockpile would be cut by 97 per cent; no new enrichment above four per cent would be allowed; no new facilities could be built for 15 years; plutonium stocks would have to be moved out of the country and further plutonium production would be cut by 90 per cent; there will be monitoring of all centrifuge manufacturing for 20 years and of uranium mines for 25 years; and finally a permanent ban on nuclear weapons research, and on reprocessing for plutonium extraction.
On a background call with media here senior administration officials noted that all of these requirements were consistent with Mr. Obama’s “bottom lines” for the gradual lifting of the U.S.-led sanctions regime on Teheran, and Washington still retained the right to maintain “snap back” mechanisms for these sanctions if Iran strayed from the terms of deal in the future.
Israeli interest was the other factor that appeared to weigh heavily on the President’s mind as he announced the deal, and this was reflected in his statement that the U.S. would “maintain our own sanctions related to Iran’s support for terrorism, its ballistic missile program, and its human rights violations [and] continue our unprecedented efforts to strengthen Israel’s security -- efforts that go beyond what any American administration has done before.”
Underscoring that his administration’s intention behind the imposition of crippling sanctions against Teheran was ultimately “get a diplomatic resolution, and that is what we have done,” the President noted that the failure to get the deal passed in the Senate would likely result in Iran building centrifuges, extracting plutonium and threaten a nuclear arms race in the region.
However Mr. Obama’s hopes for a quick passage of the deal on Capitol Hill appeared wobbly, as Senator Lindsey Graham, a senior Republican and 2016 presidential hopeful, said the deal was “incredibly dangerous for our national security, and it’s akin to declaring war on Sunni Arabs and Israel by the P5+1 because it ensures their primary antagonist Iran will become a nuclear power and allows them to rearm conventionally.”
Similarly Senator Marco Rubio, also in the presidential race next year, said that he would not support a deal with Iran that “allows the mullahs to retain the ability to develop nuclear weapons, threaten Israel, and continue their regional expansionism and support for terrorism.”
Road to Vienna:
2003: IAEA finds traces of enriched Uranium at Natanz, Iran suspends enrichment
2005: Tehran resumes enrichment, resulting in the suspension of international nuclear talks. U.S. calls for UN sanctions
2006: Tehran succeeds in enriching uranium to 3.5% UN imposes sanctions
2007: Iran acquires sufficient Uranium-enriching centrifuges (3,000) to produce a nuclear bomb
2009: President Ahmadinejad opens a Uranium enrichment site at Isfahan. Another (secret) enrichment facility is discovered at Fordow.
2010: Tehran begins enriching Uranium at 20% at Natanz
2011: EU stays embargo on Iranian oil. IAEA says Iran's nuclear programme may have military dimensions
2012: 20% enrichment begins at Fordow
2013: International talks resume in earnest, following contacts between presidents Rouhani and Obama
2014: In May, talks started in Vienna over a final agreement that would resolve the nuclear issue
2015: Under the pact reached in Vienna, Iran has agreed to limit its nuclear programme in return for economic sanctions being lifted
