Iran agrees to nuclear restrictions in framework deal with world powers

janklow
janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
eh, this seemed topical

Iran agrees to nuclear restrictions in framework deal with world powers
Iran agreed in principle to accept significant restrictions on its nuclear facilities for at least a decade and submit to international inspections under a framework deal announced Thursday after months of contentious negotiations with the United States and other world powers.

In return, international sanctions that have battered Iran’s economy would be lifted in phases if it meets its commitments, meaning it could take a year or less for relief from the penalties to kick in.

The framework agreement, a milestone in negotiations that began 12 years ago, is not a final deal. But it creates parameters for three more months of negotiations over technical details and some matters that remain unresolved. Any one of those issues could doom a comprehensive agreement. Among them is the pace at which sanctions will be suspended.

“The political understanding with details that we have reached is a solid foundation for the good deal we are seeking,” said Secretary of State John F. Kerry, his voice sounding hoarse after an all-night negotiation session.

The agreement includes almost all the restrictions on Iran’s nuclear facilities, laboratories, mines and mills that the United States had sought in recent months, although it initially aimed for even tougher restrictions.

But Iran would get several benefits that may make the deal more palatable to politicians and the public in Tehran. It would not have to close any of its three nuclear facilities, though it would be left with only one that would enrich uranium — at levels low enough to create fuel for power plants but not high enough to create weapons-grade uranium.

The limitations would produce a one-year “breakout” period, meaning it would take Iran a full year to build up enough material to build one nuclear warhead, compared with current estimates of two to three months, officials said.

Many sanctions initially would be suspended, rather than lifted permanently as Iran sought, so they could be “snapped back” into place if Iran was discovered to be cheating, the officials said.

Iran’s apparent acceptance of so many conditions sought by the United States could give the Obama administration a tool to fend off critics in Congress who want to impose new sanctions to wring more concessions from the Iranians. The White House fears such steps could scuttle the talks and prompt Tehran to resume its nuclear program at full tilt. Iran claims its nuclear program is for peaceful, civilian uses.

While the negotiations will continue through June, much of the attention will now shift to the White House and its defense of the negotiations, both in classified briefings to Congress and in public arenas.

Obama hailed the agreement as a “historic understanding” and asked whether anyone really thinks that the deal is “a worse option than the risk of another war in the Middle East.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a persistent critic of the negotiations, told Obama by telephone that a final deal based on the parameters announced Thursday “would threaten the survival of Israel,” according to an Israeli statement.

The announcement of the agreement was made by weary-looking diplomats from Iran, the European Union, the United States and five other nations. Most had slept only one or two hours after the previous day’s talks, which stretched nearly through the night.

They sounded exuberant even before they arrived at a Lausanne high school a few miles from the hotel where the last rounds of talks had been held. Many diplomats had been cautious after the negotiations failed to meet a March 31 deadline. But once the bargaining ended Thursday, there was a flurry of excited tweets.

“Big day,” wrote Kerry, who shouldered most of the direct negotiations with Iran.

Once the agreement was reached, the diplomats walked onto a stage bearing the flags of all the nations involved in the talks — Iran, Germany, France, Britain, Russia, China and the United States. Then Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister and chief negotiator in the talks, and the European foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, made statements. Mogherini said Iran and the world powers were making a “decisive step” before she listed the main parameters for an eventual deal in which Iran would be permitted to pursue the civilian use of nuclear technology.

Under the agreement, Iran’s heavy water reactor in Arak would be rebuilt so it could not produce weapons-grade plutonium. No nuclear fuel would be reprocessed, and spent fuel will be exported or diluted.

Iran’s underground plant at Fordow would be converted from a uranium-enrichment site into a nuclear physics and technology center. The site was built secretly deep inside a mountain near Qom and would be difficult to destroy by military attack.

As Mogherini was speaking, the State Department was e-mailing reporters a “fact sheet” outlining more details that it said Iran had agreed to, though it could not immediately be confirmed that Iran was indeed on board with every item.

In one of the most significant ones, the number of Iran’s centrifuges would be cut by two-thirds, to about 6,000, according to the statement. It said they would be first-generation machines, not the more advanced ones that Iran has sought. Keeping the old centrifuges is a key element in establishing the one-year breakout period, a red line for Washington.

The fact sheet said Iran further agreed not to enrich uranium above the level of 3.67 percent for at least 15 years. That level of low-enriched uranium is suitable as fuel for nuclear power plants but not as fissile material for nuclear weapons, which require uranium enriched to about 90 percent purity.

Iran has agreed to reduce its stockpile of about 10,000 kilograms (22,000 pounds) of low-enriched uranium to 300 kilograms (660 pounds) for 15 years, the fact sheet said.

The restrictions would be monitored through inspections conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency, and some of them would last 25 years under the accord.

Zarif seemed to go out of his way to thank Kerry for investing so much time and effort in the negotiations, which he said had been conducted with “mutual respect.”

The preliminary agreement could foretell the beginning of a new chapter in Iran’s relationship with the world, and particularly the United States.

Though six nations negotiated with Iran, much of the heavy lifting was done in meetings between the United States and Iran. The countries have been hostile toward each other for decades, particularly since the 1979 revolution and the seizure of dozens of American diplomats who were held hostage in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.

But the United States and Iran will remain at odds on many issues.

“We have serious differences with the United States,” Zarif said. “We have built mutual distrust in the past. . . . So what I hope is that through courageous implementation of this, some of that trust could be remedied. But that is for us all to wait and see.”

Comments

  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
  • zombie
    zombie Members Posts: 13,450 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Not too sure how I feel about this.
  • StillFaggyAF
    StillFaggyAF Members Posts: 40,358 ✭✭✭✭✭
    zombie wrote: »
    Not too sure how I feel about this.

    Iran>saudi and Israel as allies
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    Anything that helps America become a little closer to Iran is a good thing in my opinion......the Saudis blatantly support ISIS and Al-Qaeda, while Iran is the growing power in the region. The closer America can get to Iran, the better. We'll need Iran's help battling radical Islam in the future, and again, they're the most powerful nation in the region outside Israel.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    I wonder if Congress is gonna try to override Obama's plan, some Dems and Republicans are talking ? about the plan already
  • Stiff
    Stiff Members Posts: 7,723 ✭✭✭✭✭
    If it wasn't for their oil exports America woulda been trying to ? over Saudi Arabia years ago...they spend the money we pay them and support our enemies with it...while Iran spends money trying to fight those same enemies that Saudi Arabia pays to fight us. But somehow Iran is supposed to be our enemy.
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Stiff wrote: »
    If it wasn't for their oil exports America woulda been trying to ? over Saudi Arabia years ago...they spend the money we pay them and support our enemies with it...while Iran spends money trying to fight those same enemies that Saudi Arabia pays to fight us. But somehow Iran is supposed to be our enemy.
    to be fair, they kind of threw themselves into that role with the embassy seizure. the initial post-revolution government wasn't really anti-American.

    but as for this deal, the devil's going to be in the details, so i guess we'll see.

  • Stiff
    Stiff Members Posts: 7,723 ✭✭✭✭✭
    janklow wrote: »
    Stiff wrote: »
    If it wasn't for their oil exports America woulda been trying to ? over Saudi Arabia years ago...they spend the money we pay them and support our enemies with it...while Iran spends money trying to fight those same enemies that Saudi Arabia pays to fight us. But somehow Iran is supposed to be our enemy.
    to be fair, they kind of threw themselves into that role with the embassy seizure. the initial post-revolution government wasn't really anti-American.

    but as for this deal, the devil's going to be in the details, so i guess we'll see.

    What's the story of the embassy seizure
  • janklow
    janklow Members, Moderators Posts: 8,613 Regulator
    Stiff wrote: »
    What's the story of the embassy seizure
    originally more about the Shah, leftist elements in play (though more Islamic than prior events) and meant to be short-term ... and then completely co-opted by Khomeini and it went downhill from there. really upped the anti-Americanism and knocked out politicians not in that vein.

  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    UH OH......I don't think the nuclear deal is gonna last. Iran's Ayatollah aka Supreme Leader said he would not honor the deal unless the sanctions are lifted IMMEDIATELY. And Obama said just yesterday the sanctions would be phased out in a process of months and years.

    The deal is gonna be broken apart now, Democrats and Republicans will never agree to lift all the sanctions at once, unfortunately

    http://news.yahoo.com/iran-sign-final-nuclear-deal-only-sanctions-lifted-063123215.html

    Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday demanded that all sanctions on Iran be lifted at the same time as any final agreement with world powers on curbing Tehran's nuclear program is concluded.


    ---How soon will it be before Israel and its slaves in American Congress agree to put more sanctions on Iran, although the international community is against more sanctions?
  • AZTG
    AZTG Members Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This is good for the region. Simply because its a huge bargaining tool. Before this, all we had was Saudia Arabia, and Saudia could basically do whatever the ? it wanted and america will be their ally, making them #1 in the region.

    Now with Iran in the mix, and Iran and Saudia not getting along at all, they will compete for US support and we can limit Saudia doing whatever the ? they want by showing them we will support Iran on certain issues if we don't like what Saudia is doing.

    With that said, its still ? Iran. They are one of the biggest reasons that the mid east is unstable. They have been supporting terrorism in the region for sure.

    But now with even that said, Saudia has been doing the same and the whole Whabbi Islam philosophy that is the philosophy behind Islamic fundamentalists actually comes out of Saudia. They actually have schools where the whabbi philosophy is taught and then clerics graduate from there go to other Muslim countries to spread the "Islam should be just as how it was 1400 years ago" teachings.

    The US can potentially, in a few years, use this to pit Saudia and Iran against each other and force them to make actual reforms.
  • AZTG
    AZTG Members Posts: 7,598 ✭✭✭✭✭
    This will also lead to a big ? you to Turkey for all the same reasons listed above since Turkey does what it does without impunity at the moment too.

    Turkey is basically trying to rebuild the ottoman empire by working with the Muslim brotherhood and trying to put elements of the Muslim Brotherhood into the leadership of countries that are unstable at the moment because they feel the Muslim brotherhood will be loyal to them. In other words turkey wants to replace leaders in the mid east with puppet governments so its supporting terrorist groups like ISIS and Al Nusra pretty openly while not giving a ? .

    If the US builds relations with Iran, it can again pit them against each other to force them to make some real change.
  • kingblaze84
    kingblaze84 Members Posts: 14,288 ✭✭✭✭✭
    edited April 2015
    AZTG wrote: »
    This is good for the region. Simply because its a huge bargaining tool. Before this, all we had was Saudia Arabia, and Saudia could basically do whatever the ? it wanted and america will be their ally, making them #1 in the region.

    Now with Iran in the mix, and Iran and Saudia not getting along at all, they will compete for US support and we can limit Saudia doing whatever the ? they want by showing them we will support Iran on certain issues if we don't like what Saudia is doing.

    With that said, its still ? Iran. They are one of the biggest reasons that the mid east is unstable. They have been supporting terrorism in the region for sure.

    But now with even that said, Saudia has been doing the same and the whole Whabbi Islam philosophy that is the philosophy behind Islamic fundamentalists actually comes out of Saudia. They actually have schools where the whabbi philosophy is taught and then clerics graduate from there go to other Muslim countries to spread the "Islam should be just as how it was 1400 years ago" teachings.

    The US can potentially, in a few years, use this to pit Saudia and Iran against each other and force them to make actual reforms.

    I'm all for this but America needs respect in the region for this to all happen. Saudi Arabia, deep down, has almost no respect for America. 9/11 proved that, I don't think it's a coincidence 18 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi AND to this day, so many pages of the 9/11 report are blacked out when it mentions the Saudis.

    But in a perfect world, your idea could work and if the Iranians are desperate, maybe it still can. We could let the Saudis know we'll let Iran grow more powerful if they don't stop the BS, and Iran could be warned that if they keep pushing around Sunnis in their own regions, that we'll let the Saudis keep bombing Shiite, Iranian supported militias in Yemen. Yemen is a mostly Sunni nation I believe, so Iran might be going too far killing all the Sunni groups there.

    Personally though, I think Saudi Arabia has done more ? up ? then the Iranians, so I'd rather be closer to Iran. But most of the Muslim world is Sunni, so I can see why America prefers to be close to the Saudis, who are Sunni for the most part.