and Obama saying in an interview, "Remember, what I said was that it's the hard-liners in Iran who are most opposed to this deal. And I said, in that sense, they're making common cause with those who are opposed to this deal here. I didn't say that they were equivalent."
In the same interview Obama said, "A sizable proportion of the Republicans were opposed before the ink was even dry on the deal."
In comments made at the Aspen Security Forum in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
in July 2015,
Director of National Intelligence
The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
James Clapper
James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...
said the JCPOA would improve the U.S.'s ability to monitor Iran: "
he agreementputs us in a far better place in terms of insight and access" than no agreement.
[Eliza Collins]
"Clapper: Iran deal gives U.S. access, insight"
''Politico'' (24 July 2015). Clapper remained "concerned about compliance and deceit" but "pointed out that during the negotiation period
ran
Ran, RaN and ran may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa
* "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea
* '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game)
* ...
complied with rules" negotiated under the interim agreement (the Joint Plan of Action).
=Public debate
=
An intense public debate in the United States took place during the congressional review period.
[Deb Riechmann]
High-stakes lobbying on Iran deal; pressure for Congress
''San Francisco Chronicle'', Associated Press (22 July 2015). "Some of the wealthiest and most powerful donors in American politics, those for and against the accord", became involved in the public debate,
[Jonathan Weisman & Nicholas Confessore]
''The New York Times'' (12 August 2015). although "mega-donors" opposing the agreement contributed substantially more money than those supporting it.
[Catherine Ho]
"Mega-donors opposing Iran deal have upper hand in fierce lobbying battle"
''The Washington Post'' (13 August 2015). From 2010 to early August 2015, the foundations of
Sheldon Adelson
Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...
,
Paul Singer, and
Haim Saban
Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...
contributed a total of $13 million (at least $7.5 million, at least $2.6 million, and at least $2.9 million, respectively) to advocacy groups opposing an agreement with Iran.
On the other side, three groups lobbying in support of the agreement received at least $803,000 from the
Ploughshares Fund
Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to their use. Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) foundation that pools con ...
, at least $425,000 from the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...
, and at least $68,500 from
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
and
his foundation.
Other philanthropists and donors supporting an agreement include
S. Daniel Abraham
Sim Daniel Abraham (born August 15, 1924) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Thompson Medical, whose main product is Slim-Fast, a diet program. He has endowed the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle E ...
,
Tim Gill
Tim Gill (born October 18, 1953) is an American computer software programmer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and LGBTQ rights activist. He was among the first openly gay people to be on the Forbes 400 list of America's richest people.
He is the fo ...
,
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning ''All in the Famil ...
,
Margery Tabankin
Margery Tabankin (born 1948) is an American progressive political activist. She is known for serving as a conduit between Hollywood donors and liberal political causes in Washington D.C.
Biography
Tabankin became a nationally known campus radic ...
, and
Arnold Hiatt.
Others welcomed the JCPOA as a step forward.
[Ali Gharib]
"Iranian-Americans welcome nuclear deal, despite opposition to regime"
Al Jazeera America (16 July 2015). The
National Iranian American Council
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC; fa, شورای ملی ایرانیان آمریکا) is a NGO based in Washington, D.C. The NIAC Action, the sister organization of NIAC, was formed in 2015 to build political power for Iranian America ...
(NIAC),
Iranian American Bar Association
The Iranian American Bar Association ("IABA") ( fa, کانون وکلای ایرانی در آمریکا) was formed in 2000 in the District of Columbia and is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue C ...
, and other organizations welcomed the JCPOA. The NIAC released a statement saying: "Our negotiators have done their job to win a strong nuclear deal that prevents an Iranian nuclear weapon, all the while avoiding a catastrophic war. Now is the time for Congress to do theirs. Make no mistake: if Congress rejects this good deal with Iran, there will be no better deal forthcoming and Congress will be left owning an unnecessary war." NIAC created a new group, NIAC Action, to run advertisements supporting the agreement.
NIAC also organized an open letter from 73 Middle East and foreign affairs scholars stating, "reactivating diplomatic channels between the United States and Iran is a necessary first step" to reduce conflict in the region, and that while "the nuclear deal will not automatically or immediately bring stability to the region ... Ultimately, a Middle East where diplomacy is the norm rather than the exception will enhance U.S. national security and interests."
Signatories to the letter include
John Esposito
John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an Italian-American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at Geor ...
,
Ehsan Yarshater
Ehsan Yarshater ( fa, احسان يارشاطر, April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Profe ...
,
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
,
Peter Beinart
Peter Alexander Beinart (; born February 28, 1971) is an American liberal columnist, journalist, and political commentator. A former editor of ''The New Republic'', he has also written for ''Time'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The New York Revie ...
,
John Mearsheimer
John Joseph Mearsheimer (; born December 14, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of thought. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the Univers ...
, and
Stephen Walt.
U.S. pro-Israel groups were divided on the JCPOA.
[Felicia Schwartz]
"Pro-Israel Groups in U.S. Square Off Over Iran Nuke Deal"
''The Wall Street Journal'' Washington Wire blog (16 July 2015). The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...
opposed the agreement and formed a new
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
group, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, to run a television advertising campaign against it.
In August 2015, it was reported that AIPAC and Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran planned to spend between $20 million and $40 million on its campaign.
[Ailsa Chang]
"Lobbyists Spending Millions to Sway the Undecided on Iran Deal"
NPR (6 August 2015). From mid-July to 4 August 2015 AIPAC's Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran spent more than $11 million on network television
political advertisement
In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to Social influence, influence a political debate, and ultimately, voters. These ads are designed by political consulting, political consultants and polit ...
s opposing the agreement in 23 states, including more than $1 million in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
[John Bresnahan & Anna Palmer]
"Iran deal foes spend big, get little so far"
''Politico'' (4 August 2015). In the first week of August AIPAC said it had 400 meetings with congressional offices as part of its campaign to defeat the agreement.
In contrast to AIPAC, another pro-Israel organization,
J Street
J Street ( he, ג'יי סטריט) is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab–Israeli and Israeli–Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatica ...
, supported the agreement, and planned a $5 million advertising effort to encourage Congress to support it.
In the first week of August J Street launched a $2 million, three-week ad campaign in support of the agreement, with TV ads in Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
[Gus Burns]
First look at $2 million J-Street ad campaign in support of Iran nuclear deal
MLive.com (4 August 2015). From mid-July through early August, J Street reported having 125 meetings with congressional offices.
J Street also paid to fly prominent Israelis who support the agreement (including
Amram Mitzna
Amram Mitzna ( he, עמרם מצנע, born 20 February 1945) is an Israeli politician and former general in the IDF. He is a former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and Yeruham (2005–2010) and led the Labor Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2012 he joine ...
, a retired Israeli general, member of the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
, and mayor of
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
) to the United States to help persuade members of Congress to support it.
The group
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along wi ...
(UANI) opposed the agreement and committed to spending more than $20 million on a national "TV, radio, print and digital campaign" against it.
["Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran (CNFI) Launches Third National TV Ad"](_blank)
(press release), United Against Nuclear Iran (20 August 2015). After UANI announced its opposition, the group's president and co-founder, nonproliferation expert
Gary Samore
Gary Samore is the Crown Family Director of thCrown Center for Middle East Studiesand Professor of the Practice in Politics at Brandeis University. He formerly served as the Executive Director for Research of the Belfer Center for Science and Inte ...
, announced that he had concluded "that the accord was in the United States' interest" and supported the agreement.
[Michael R. Gordon]
"Head of Group Opposing Iran Accord Quits Post, Saying He Backs Deal"
''The New York Times'' (11 August 2015). Samore thus stepped down as president and was replaced by ex-Senator
Joseph I. Lieberman
Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for Vi ...
.
By 20 August UANI had released its third national television ad against the agreement.
Various other groups also ran ad campaigns for or against the agreement.
John R. Bolton
John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...
's Foundation for American Security and Freedom ran ads against it, as did "Veterans Against the Deal", a group that
does not disclose its donors.
[Allison Kaplan Sommer]
"Ad Nauseum: [sic] How Supporters and Opponents Are Trying to Sell the Iranian Nuclear Deal"
''Haaretz'' (26 August 2015). Various pro-agreement ads were run by MoveOn.org (which ran an ad titled "Let Diplomacy Work"), Americans United for Change (which warned "They're back—the Iraq war hawks are fighting the Iran deal, want more war" over photos of Bolton,
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
, and
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
), and
Global Zero
Global Zero is a term in the literature of arms control that refers to the worldwide elimination of a weapons system, especially nuclear weapons or a particular class of nuclear weapons. In negotiations over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces ...
(which ran a humorous ad featuring actors
Jack Black
Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...
,
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
, and
Natasha Lyonne
Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...
).
The New York-based Iran Project, a nonprofit led by former high-level U.S. diplomats and funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, along with the
United Nations Association of the United States
The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Grassroots, grassroots organization dedicated to promoting political and public support for the United Nations among Americans. A progr ...
, supported the agreement.
[Peter Waldman]
"How Freelance Diplomacy Bankrolled by Rockefellers Has Paved the Way for an Iran Deal"
Bloomberg Politics (2 July 2015). The Rockefeller fund also supported the San Francisco-based
Ploughshares Fund
Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to their use. Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) foundation that pools con ...
, which spent several years marshaling support for an agreement.
On 17 July 2015, a bipartisan open letter endorsing the Iran agreement was signed by more than 100 former U.S. ambassadors and high-ranking State Department officials.
[Julian Hattem]
"More than 100 ex-US ambassadors pledge backing for Iran deal"
''The Hill'' (17 July 2015).["Letter to the President from over 100 former American Ambassadors on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's Nuclear Program"](_blank)
(17 July 2015). The ex-ambassadors wrote: "If properly implemented, this comprehensive and rigorously negotiated agreement can be an effective instrument in arresting Iran's nuclear program and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the volatile and vitally important region of the Middle East. In our judgment the
landeserves Congressional support and the opportunity to show it can work. We firmly believe that the most effective way to protect U.S. national security, and that of our allies and friends is to ensure that tough-minded diplomacy has a chance to succeed before considering other more costly and risky alternatives."
Among the signatories to the letter were
Daniel C. Kurtzer
Daniel Charles Kurtzer (born June 1949) is an American former diplomat. He served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the term of President Bill Clinton, and was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 during the term of President George W ...
,
James R. Jones,
Frank E. Loy
Frank E. Loy (born December 25, 1928) is an American diplomat, business and nonprofit executive, and attorney. He is best known for serving as United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs from November 2, 1998, to January 20, 2001, un ...
,
Princeton N. Lyman,
Jack F. Matlock Jr.,
Donald F. McHenry
Donald Franchot McHenry (born October 13, 1936) is a former American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from September 1979 until January 20, 1981.
Biography
McHenry was born in St. L ...
,
Thomas E. McNamara, and
Thomas R. Pickering
Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering (born November 5, 1931) is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992.
Early life and education
Born in Orange, ...
.
A separate public letter to Congress in support of the agreement from five former U.S. ambassadors to Israel from administrations of both parties and three former
Under Secretaries of State was released on 26 July 2015.
[James Fallows]
"A Guide to the Iran Nuclear Deal's Supporters and Opponents"
''The Atlantic'' (28 July 2015). This letter was signed by
R. Nicholas Burns
Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022.
Burns has had a 25 year career in the State Department, and served as United States Under Secre ...
,
James B. Cunningham,
William C. Harrop,
Daniel Kurtzer
Daniel Charles Kurtzer (born June 1949) is an American former diplomat. He served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the term of President Bill Clinton, and was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 during the term of President George W ...
, Thomas R. Pickering,
Edward S. Walker Jr.
Edward S. Walker Jr. (born June 13, 1940) is a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the UAE and is a Middle East specialist.
Early life
Walker was born in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. at Hamilt ...
, and
Frank G. Wisner
Frank George Wisner II (born July 2, 1938) is an American businessman and former diplomat who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State ...
.
["Letter to Congressional Leadership from Former Under Secretaries of State and former American Ambassadors to Israel on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action"](_blank)
(27 July 2015). The former officials wrote, "We are persuaded that this agreement will put in place a set of constraints and monitoring measures that will arrest Iran's nuclear program for at least fifteen years and assure that this agreement will leave Iran no legitimate avenue to produce a nuclear weapon during the next ten to fifteen years. This landmark agreement removes the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and to Israel specifically."
Another public letter to Congress urging approval of the agreement was signed by a bipartisan group of more than 60 "national-security leaders", including politicians, retired military officers, and diplomats.
This letter, dated 20 July 2015, stated: "We congratulate President Obama and all the negotiators for a landmark agreement unprecedented in its importance for preventing the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran. ... We have followed carefully the negotiations as they have progressed and conclude that the JCPOA represents the achievement of greater security for us and our partners in the region."
["Statement by 60 National Security Leaders on the Announcement of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action"](_blank)
The Iran Project (20 July 2015). Among the Republicans who signed this letter were former Treasury Secretary
Paul O'Neill, former
U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills
Carla Anderson Hills (born January 3, 1934) is an American lawyer and a public figure. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Gerald Ford from 197 ...
, and former Senator
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
Nancy Jo Kassebaum Baker (née Landon; born July 29, 1932) is an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, who was Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1 ...
.
Among the Democrats who signed the letter were former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...
, former Senate Majority Leaders
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 198 ...
and
Tom Daschle
Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...
, former Senator
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
, and former Defense Secretary
William Perry William Perry may refer to:
Business
* William Perry (Queensland businessman) (1835–1891), businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia
* William H. Perry (businessman) (1832–1906), American businessman and entrepreneur
Politics and ...
.
[Joe Cirincione]
"60 of America's Top National Security Leaders Endorse Iran Deal"
The Huffington Post (21 July 2015). Also signing were former National Security Advisors
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's ...
and
Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military Assi ...
; Under Secretaries of State
R. Nicholas Burns
Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022.
Burns has had a 25 year career in the State Department, and served as United States Under Secre ...
and
Thomas R. Pickering
Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering (born November 5, 1931) is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992.
Early life and education
Born in Orange, ...
; U.S. Ambassadors
Ryan Crocker
Ryan Clark Crocker (born June 19, 1949) is an American retired diplomat who served as a career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has served as United States Ambassador to ...
and
Stuart Eizenstat
Stuart Elliott Eizenstat (born January 15, 1943) is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 ...
; Admiral
Eric T. Olson
Eric Thor Olson (born January 24, 1952) is a retired United States Navy Admiral (United States), admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, United States Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2 ...
;
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Unite ...
Michele Flournoy
Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael.
Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...
; and Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation Robert Einhorn.
On 8 August 2015, 29 prominent U.S. scientists, mostly
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
s, published an open letter endorsing the agreement.
[William J. Broad]
"29 U.S. Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal in Letter to Obama"
''The New York Times'' (8 August 2015).
(8 August 2015), reprinted by ''The New York Times''. The letter, addressed to Obama, said: "We congratulate you and your team on negotiating a technically sound, stringent and innovative deal that will provide the necessary assurance in the coming decade and more than Iran is not developing nuclear weapons, and provides a basis for further initiatives to raise the barriers to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the globe."
The letter also stated that the agreement "will advance the cause of peace and security in the Middle East and can serve as a guidepost for future nonproliferation agreements".
The 29 signatories included "some of the world's most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control", many of whom have held
Q clearance
Q clearance or Q access authorization is the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restri ...
s and have been longtime advisers to Congress, the White House, and federal agencies.
The five primary authors were
Richard L. Garwin (a nuclear physicist who played a key role in the development of the first
hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
and whom ''The New York Times'' described as "among the last living physicists who helped usher in the nuclear age"); Robert J. Goldston (Director of the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security and former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory); R. Scott Kemp (an MIT professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and a former science advisor for nonproliferation and arms control at the State Department);
Rush D. Holt (a physicist and former U.S. Representative who later became president of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
); and Frank N. von Hippel (Princeton Professor of Public Policy and former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). Six
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
laureates co-signed the letter:
Philip W. Anderson
Philip Warren Anderson (December 13, 1923 – March 29, 2020) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism, symmetry breaking (including a paper in 1 ...
of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
;
Leon N. Cooper of
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
;
Sheldon L. Glashow of
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
;
David Gross
David Jonathan Gross (; born February 19, 1941) is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. Gr ...
of the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
;
Burton Richter
Burton Richter (March 22, 1931 – July 18, 2018) was an American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by S ...
of
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
; and
Frank Wilczek
Frank Anthony Wilczek (; born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Direct ...
of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
.
Among the other scientists to sign are
Siegfried S. Hecker (a Stanford physicist and the former director of
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
),
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...
(of Princeton), and
Sidney Drell
Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert.
At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fel ...
(of Stanford).
An open letter endorsing the agreement signed by 36 retired military
generals
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
and
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
s and titled "The Iran Deal Benefits U.S. National Security: An Open Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals" was released on 11 August 2015.
[Karen DeYoung]
"Dozens of retired generals, admirals back Iran nuclear deal"
''The Washington Post'' (11 August 2015).["Read: An open letter from retired generals and admirals on the Iran nuclear deal"](_blank)
(letter released 11 August 2015), reprinted by ''The Washington Post''. The letter, signed by retired officers from all five branches of the
U.S. armed services
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, said the agreement was "the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons" and "If at some point it becomes necessary to consider military action against Iran, gathering sufficient international support for such an effort would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance. We must exhaust diplomatic options before moving to military ones."
The signers included General
James E. "Hoss" Cartwright of the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
, former
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VJCS) is, by U.S. law, the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, - Vice Chairman ranking just below the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vice chairman ...
; General
Joseph P. Hoar
Joseph Paul Hoar (December 30, 1934 – September 17, 2022) was a United States Marine Corps four-star general. He served as Commander in Chief of United States Central Command from 1991 to 1994, retiring from the Marine Corps on September 1, 199 ...
of the Marine Corps, the former commander of the
U.S. Central Command
The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...
; and Generals Merrill McPeak and Lloyd W. Newton of the United States Air Force, Air Force.
Other signers included Lieutenant Generals Robert G. Gard Jr. and Claudia J. Kennedy; Vice Admiral Lee F. Gunn; Rear Admirals Garland Wright and Joseph Sestak; and Major General Paul D. Eaton.
The above letter was answered on 25 August 2015 by a letter signed by more than 200 retired generals and admirals opposing the deal.
The letter asserted: "The agreement does not 'cut off every pathway' for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. To the contrary, it provides Iran with a legitimate pathway for doing exactly that simply by abiding by the deal. ... The JCPOA would threaten the national security and vital interests of the United States and, therefore, should be disapproved by the Congress."
This letter was organized by Leon Edney, Leon A. "Bud" Edney; other signers included Admiral James Lyons (admiral), James A. Lyons; Lieutenant General William G. Boykin, former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence; and Lieutenant General Thomas McInerney, former vice commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Retired Marine Corps General Anthony Zinni said he had refused requests from both sides to sign their letters, telling ''Time'' magazine, "I'm convinced that 90% of the guys who signed the letter one way or the other don't have any clue about whether it's a good or bad deal. They sign it because somebody's asked them to sign it." Of the JCPOA, Zinni said: "The agreement's fine, if you think it can work. But if this is a Neville Chamberlain then you're in a world of shit."
[Mark Thompson]
"Retired Generals Wage Letter War Over Iran Nuclear Deal Vote"
''Time'' (27 August 2015).
On 13 August retired Senators
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
of Michigan, a Democrat, and John Warner of Virginia, a Republican, published an op-ed in support of the agreement, "Why hawks should also back the Iran deal", in ''Politico''.
[Carl Levin & John Warner]
"Why hawks should also back the Iran deal"
''Politico'' (13 August 2015). Levin and Warner, both past chairmen of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued, "If we reject the agreement, we risk isolating ourselves and damaging our ability to assemble the strongest possible coalition to stop Iran" in the event that military action was needed in the future.
Levin and Warner wrote, "The deal on the table is a strong agreement on many counts, and it leaves in place the robust deterrence and credibility of a military option. We urge our former colleagues not to take any action which would undermine the deterrent value of a coalition that participates in and could support the use of a military option. The failure of the United States to join the agreement would have that effect."
On 14 August retired senators Richard Lugar of Indiana, a Republican, and J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, a Democrat, also wrote in support of the agreement.
[Richard Lugar & J. Bennett Johnston]
"Why we disagree with Chuck Schumer on the Iran deal"
Reuters Great Debate (14 August 2015). In a column for
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
Lugar and Johnston argued, "Rejection of the agreement would severely undermine the U.S. role as a leader and reliable partner around the globe. If Washington walks away from this hard-fought multilateral agreement, its dependability would likely be doubted for decades."
They also wrote: "Tehran would be the winner of this U.S. rejection because it would achieve its major objective: the lifting of most sanctions without being required to accept constraints on its nuclear program. Iran could also claim to be a victim of American perfidy and try to convince other nations to break with U.S. leadership and with the entire international sanctions regime."
On 17 August 2015, a group of 75 arms control and nuclear nonproliferation experts issued a joint statement endorsing the agreement.
["The Comprehensive P5+1 Nuclear Agreement With Iran: A Net-Plus for Nonproliferation: Statement from Nuclear Nonproliferation Specialists"](_blank)
Arms Control Association (17 August 2015).[Michael Crowley]
''Politico'' (18 August 2015). The statement said, "the JCPOA is a strong, long-term, and verifiable agreement that will be a net-plus for international nuclear nonproliferation efforts" and that the JCPOA's "rigorous limits and transparency measures will make it very likely that any future effort by Iran to pursue nuclear weapons, even a clandestine program, would be detected promptly, providing the opportunity to intervene decisively to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon".
The letter was organized through the nonpartisan Arms Control Association.
Among the 75 signatories were the Valerie Plame and Joseph C. Wilson; former IAEA director-general Hans Blix; Morton H. Halperin; and experts from the
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
, Stimson Center, and other think tanks.
Foreign diplomats were also involved in the congressional debate. The List of Israeli ambassadors to the United States, Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer appeared on cable television shows to attack the agreement, while ambassadors from European nations, including Sir Peter Westmacott, the List of Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to the United States, British ambassador to the United States, "came on to say the precise opposite". Dermer also lobbied members of Congress on Capitol Hill against the agreement, while diplomats from France, Britain, and Germany made the rounds on Capitol Hill to advocate for the agreement.
[Karen DeYoung]
"Senate opponents of Iran deal draw hard lines against White House"
''The Washington Post'' (23 July 2015). On 4 August P5+1 diplomats held "a rare meeting of world powers' envoys on Capitol Hill" with about 30 Senate Democrats to urge support for the agreement, saying, "If Congress rejects this good deal, and the U.S. is forced to walk away, Iran will be left with an unconstrained nuclear program with far weaker monitoring arrangements, the current international consensus on sanctions would unravel, and international unity and pressure on Iran would be seriously undermined."
[John Hudson]
"P5+1 Nations Press Senate Democrats to Support Iran Deal"
''Foreign Policy'' (6 August 2015).
On ''Meet the Press'' on 6 September 2015, former Secretary of State Colin Powell expressed support for the nuclear agreement with Iran, saying that it was "a pretty good deal".
[Alexandra Jaffe]
"Colin Powell: Iran Deal Is a 'Pretty Good Deal'"
NBC News (6 September 2015). Powell said that various provisions accepted by Iran—such as the reduction in centrifuges and the uranium stockpile and the agreement to shut down its plutonium reactor—were "remarkable changes" that stopped the Iranian pathway to a nuclear weapons program. Powell also defended the verification provisions of the agreement, saying: "I think a very vigorous verification regime has been put into place."
Former Ambassador Dennis Ross, a longtime American negotiator in the Middle East, wrote that he was not yet convinced by either proponents or opponents of the agreement.
[Dennis Ross]
"How to Make Iran Keep its Word"
''Politico'' (29 July 2015). Ross wrote that the United States should be focused on "deterring the Iranians from cheating" (e.g., by producing highly enriched uranium) after year fifteen of the agreement.
Ross wrote, "President Obama emphasizes that the agreement is based on verification not trust. But our catching Iran cheating is less important than the price they know they will pay if we catch them. Deterrence needs to apply not just for the life of the deal."
As part of a deterrence strategy, Ross proposed transferring to Israel the U.S. Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) "bunker buster" bomb at some point before year 15 of the agreement.
In a 25 August op-ed in ''The Washington Post'', Ross and David H. Petraeus again argued for transferring the MOP to Israel.
The Jewish American community was divided on the agreement. On 19 August 2015 leaders of the Reform Jewish movement, the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, issued a lengthy public statement expressing a neutral position.
[Chemi Shalev]
"Reflecting Deep Divisions, Reform Movement Abstains From 'Yes' or 'No' on Iran Deal"
''Haaretz'' (19 August 2015). The statement, signed by the leaders of the Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism and Association of Reform Zionists of America, reflected what Rabbi Richard Jacobs (rabbi), Rick Jacobs, president of the URJ, called "deep divisions within the movement".
On 20 August 2015 a group of 26 prominent current and foreign American Jewish communal leaders published a full-page ad in ''The New York Times'' with a statement backing the agreement; signers included three former chairs of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations as well as former AIPAC executive director Tom Dine. Separately, on 17 August 2015 a group of 340 rabbis organized by Ameinu wrote an open letter to Congress in support of the agreement, saying: "We, along with many other Jewish leaders, fully support this historic nuclear accord."
["340 U.S. rabbis sign letter supporting Iran deal"](_blank)
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (17 August 2015). The signers were mostly Reform rabbis but included at least 50 rabbis from the Conservative movement and at least one Orthodox rabbi. Prominent rabbis who signed this letter included Sharon Brous, Burton Visotzky, Nina Beth Cardin, Lawrence Kushner, Sharon Kleinbaum, and Amy Eilberg.
In a separate letter released on 27 August, 11 Democratic Jewish former members of Congress urged support for the agreement; the letter noted the signatories' pro-Israel credentials and said the agreement "halts the immediate threat of a nuclear-armed Iran" while rejecting it would "put Iran back on the path to develop a nuclear weapon within two to three months".
[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]
"11 Jewish ex-congressmen back Iran deal; 190 former generals oppose"
(27 August 2015). Signatories included former Senator
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
and former Representatives Barney Frank, Mel Levine, Steve Rothman, and Robert Wexler.
Conversely, in late August a group of 900 rabbis signed an open letter by Kalman Topp and Yonah Bookstein calling upon Congress to reject the agreement. The Orthodox Union and American Jewish Committee also announced opposition to the agreement.
The Roman Catholic Church expressed support for the agreement. In a 14 July 2015 letter to Congress, Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, wrote that the JCPOA was "a momentous agreement" that "signals progress in global nuclear non-proliferation".
[Vinnie Rotondaro]
"Signs of 'seamless garment' in Catholic support for Iran nuke deal"
''National Catholic Reporter'' (13 August 2015).["Bishop Cantú Welcomes Iran Nuclear Deal, Urges Congress To Endorse Result of Negotiations"](_blank)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (14 July 2015). Cantú wrote that Catholic bishops in the United States "will continue to urge Congress to endorse the result of these intense negotiations because the alternative leads toward armed conflict, an outcome of profound concern to the Church".
On 25 August 2015 a group of 53 Christian faith leaders from a variety of denominations sent a message to Congress urging them to support the agreement.
The Christian leaders wrote: "This is a moment to remember the wisdom of Jesus who proclaimed from the Sermon on the Mount, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God' (Matthew 5:9). ... There is no question we are all better off with this deal than without it."
The letter was coordinated by a Quaker group, the Friends Committee on National Legislation.
Signatories to the letter included Jim Wallis of Sojourners; John C. Dorhauer, general minister and president of the United Church of Christ; Shane Claiborne; Adam Estle of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding; Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the Armenian Orthodox Church; A. Roy Medley, the head of American Baptist Churches USA; the Reverend Paula Clayton Dempsey of the Alliance of Baptists, senior pastor Joel C. Hunter of Northland, A Church Distributed; and Sister Simone Campbell, a leader of the Catholic "Nuns on the Bus" campaigns.
=Congressional committee hearings
=
A hearing on the JCPOA before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took place on 23 July 2015. Secretary of State Kerry, United States Secretary of the Treasury, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and United States Secretary of Energy, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, Moniz testified.
[Jonathan Weisman & Michael R. Gordon]
"Kerry Defends Iran Nuclear Deal Before Skeptical Senate"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). Republican Senator
Bob Corker
Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rela ...
of Tennessee, the committee chairman, said in his opening statement that when the talks began the goal was to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program, whereas the achieved agreement codified "the industrialization of their nuclear program".
Corker, addressing Kerry, said, "I believe you've been fleeced" and "what you've really done here is you have turned Iran from being a pariah to now Congress—Congress being a pariah."
Corker said a new threshold in U.S. foreign policy had been crossed and the agreement would "enable a state sponsor of terror to obtain sophisticated, industrial nuclear development program that has, as we know, only one real practical need".
The committee's ranking Democratic member, Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, said he had many questions and his hope was that the answers will cause a debate "in Congress and the American people".
Democrats, led by Senator Barbara Boxer of California, expressed support for the agreement, with Boxer saying that criticisms by Republicans were "ridiculous", "unfair", and "wrong".
Corker and Cardin sent Obama a letter saying the bilateral IAEA-Iran document should be available for Congress to review.
At the hearing Kerry, Lew, and Moniz "were unequivocal in their statements that the accord was the best that could be achieved and that without it, the international sanctions regime would collapse".
Kerry warned that the United States would be "on our own" if it walked away from a multilateral agreement alongside the five global powers
and added that the belief that "some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation" could be achieved was "a fantasy, plain and simple".
''The Washington Post'' reported, "Moniz emerged as the calm center of the proceedings, beginning his interjections with recitations of what he described as 'facts,' and mildly observing that Republican characterizations were 'incorrect.'"
Kerry, Lew, and Moniz faced "uniform animus of Republicans" at the hearing,
with Republican senators giving "long and often scathing speeches denouncing what they described as a fatally flawed agreement and accusing the administration of dangerous naivete" and showing "little interest in responses" from the three cabinet secretaries.
''The Washington Post'' reported on 12 issues related to the agreement over which the two sides disagreed at the hearing.
On 28 July Kerry, Moniz, and Lew testified before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Committee chairman Ed Royce, Republican of California, said in his opening statement, "we are being asked to consider an agreement that gives Iran permanent sanctions relief for temporary nuclear restrictions."
"Royce also said the inspection regime 'came up short' from 'anywhere, anytime' access to Iran's nuclear facilities and criticized the removal of restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program and conventional arms."
The committee's ranking member, Representative Eliot Engel, Democrat of New York, said he has "serious questions and concerns" about the agreement.
Kerry, Lew, and Moniz spent four hours testifying before the committee.
[Jennifer Steinhauer]
"Iran Nuclear Deal Gets Support of House Israel Backer, Sander Levin"
(28 July 2015). At the hearing Kerry said that if Congress killed the deal, "You'll not only be giving Iran a free pass to double the pace of its uranium enrichment, to build a heavy-water reactor, to install new and more efficient centrifuges, but they will do it all without the unprecedented inspection and transparency measures that we have secured. Everything that we have tried to prevent will now happen."
[Carol Morello]
''The Washington Post'' (28 July 2015).
On 29 July United States Secretary of Defense, Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter, General Martin Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Kerry, Moniz, and Lew appeared before the Senate Armed Services Committee in a three-hour hearing.
[Helene Cooper]
"Nuclear Deal Reduces Risk of Conflict With Iran, Top U.S. General Says"
''The New York Times'' (29 July 2015). Carter and Dempsey had been invited to testify by Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona, the chairman of the committee; Kerry, Moniz, and Lew attended the hearing at the invitation of the Pentagon.
In his opening statement McCain said that if the agreement failed and U.S. armed forces were called to take action against Iran, they "could be at greater risk because of this agreement". He also asserted that the agreement could lead American allies and partners to fateful decisions and result in "growing regional security competition, new arms races, nuclear proliferation, and possibly conflict".
The committee's ranking Democratic member, Senator Jack Reed (politician), Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said Congress had an obligation "to independently validate that the agreement will meet our common goal of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon" and that "the agreement, no matter your position on it, is historic and, if implemented scrupulously, could serve as a strategic inflection point in the world's relations with Iran, for international non-proliferation efforts, and for the political and security dynamics in the Middle East."
Carter said the agreement prevented Iran from "getting a nuclear weapon in a comprehensive and verifiable way".
He assured the committee that the deal would not limit the U.S. ability to respond with military force if needed.
In response to a question from McCain, Carter said he had "no reason to foresee" that the agreement would cause Iran's threatening behavior to change more broadly, stating "That is why it's important that Iran not have a nuclear weapon."
Dempsey offered what he described as a "pragmatic" view.
He neither praised nor criticized the deal, but testified that the agreement reduced the chances of a near-term military conflict between the United States and Iran.
Dempsey said the agreement worked to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons but did not address other concerns about Iran's malign activities in the region, ranging from "ballistic missile technology to weapons trafficking, to ... malicious activity in cyberspace".
[Michael Bowman]
"US Lawmakers Seek Details of Iran Nuke Inspection Regime"
Voice of America (29 July 2015). He testified, "Ultimately, time and Iranian behavior will determine if the nuclear agreement is effective and sustainable" and stated that he would continue to provide military options to the president.
Senator Joni Ernst expressed disagreement with Obama's statement that the choice was the Iran nuclear deal or war. When Dempsey testified that the United States had "a range of options" he had presented to Obama, Ernst said: "it's imperative everybody on the panel understand that there are other options available."
Under the JCPOA Iran must submit a full report on its nuclear history before it can receive any sanctions relief.
["The Real Facts on the Iran Nuclear Deal"](_blank)
Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation (last updated 12 August 2015). The IAEA has confidential technical arrangements with many countries as a matter of standard operating procedure.
[Martin Matishak]
"Obama officials deny 'secret deals' in Iran nuclear pact"
''The Hill'' (22 July 2015). "Republican lawmakers refer to these agreements as 'secret side deals' and claim that the JCPOA hinges on a set of agreements no one in the administration has actually seen."
Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, a Republican opponent of the agreement, said that Kerry had "acted like Pontius Pilate" and "washed his hands, kicked it to the IAEA, knowing Congress would not get this information unless someone went out to find it." On 30 July Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
seeking a delay in the review period, arguing, "The 60-calendar day period for review of such agreement in the Senate cannot be considered to have begun until the Majority Leader certifies that all of the materials required to be transmitted under the definition of the term 'agreement' under such Act, including any side agreements with Iran and United States Government-issued guidance materials in relation to Iran, have been transmitted to the Majority Leader."
On 5 August, IAEA director general Yukiya Amano spoke with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a closed briefing about two IAEA documents: an agreement on inspection protocols with Iran and an agreement with Iran regarding Iranian disclosure of its previous nuclear activity (known as Possible Military Dimensions).
[Nathan Guttman]
"Fact-Checking the Flame Throwers on Both Sides of Iran Deal"
''Jewish Daily Forward'' (13 August 2015).[Associated Press]
"IAEA can't give Congress its nuke document with Iran, Amano says"
(6 August 2015). Following this briefing with Amano, Corker told reporters: "The majority of members here left with far more questions than they had before the meeting took place" and "We can not get him to even confirm that we will have physical access inside of Parchin." Cardin told reporters: "I thought today was helpful, but it was not a substitute for seeing the document."
State Department spokesman John Kirby (admiral), John Kirby responded, "There's no secret deals between Iran and the IAEA that the P5+1 has not been briefed on in detail" and stated "These kinds of technical arrangements with the IAEA are a matter of standard practice, that they're not released publicly or to other states, but our experts are familiar and comfortable with the contents, which we would be happy to discuss with Congress in a Classified information in the United States, classified setting."
The
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation wrote, "The arrangement specifies procedural information regarding how the IAEA will conduct its investigation into Iran's past nuclear history, including mentioning the names of informants who will be interviewed. Releasing this information would place those informants, and the information they hold, at risk."
Mark Hibbs of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and Thomas Shea, a former IAEA safeguards official and former head of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, wrote that the charges of a "secret side deal" made by opponents of the agreement were a "manufactured controversy".
Hibbs and Shea wrote, "The IAEA has safeguards agreement with 180 countries. All have similar information protection provisions. Without these, governments would not open their nuclear programs for multilateral oversight. So IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was acting by the book on August 5 when he told members of Congress that he couldn't share with them the details of [the] verification protocol the IAEA had negotiated with Iran as part of a bilateral 'roadmap.'"
David Albright, founder and president of the Institute for Science and International Security and a former IAEA nuclear inspector, stated that the demands for greater transparency regarding the agreement between Iran and IAEA "aren't unreasonable" and "Iran is a big screamer for more confidentiality. Nonetheless, if the IAEA wanted to make it more open, it could." Albright also proposed that the United States "should clearly and publicly confirm, and Congress should support with legislation, that if Iran does not address the IAEA's concerns about the past military dimensions of its nuclear programs, U.S. sanctions will not be lifted".
=Congressional support and opposition
=
Republican leaders vowed to attempt to kill the agreement as soon as it was released, even before classified sections were made available to Congress, and "Republican lawmakers raced to send out news releases criticizing it."
[Jennifer Steinhauer]
"Republicans Have Minds Made Up as Debate Begins on Iran Nuclear Deal"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). According to ''The Washington Post'', "most congressional Republicans remained deeply skeptical, some openly scornful, of the prospect of relieving economic sanctions while leaving any Iranian uranium-enrichment capability intact."
Mitch McConnell said the deal "appears to fall well short of the goal we all thought was trying to be achieved, which was that Iran would not be a nuclear state".
A ''New York Times'' analysis stated that Republican opposition to the agreement "seems born of genuine distaste for the deal's details, inherent distrust of President Obama, intense loyalty to Israel and an expansive view of the role that sanctions have played beyond preventing Iran's nuclear abilities".
''The Washington Post'' identified 12 issues related to the agreement on which the two sides disagreed, including the efficacy of inspections at undeclared sites; the effectiveness of the snapback sanctions; the significance of limits on enrichment; the significance of IAEA side agreements; the effectiveness of inspections of military sites; the consequences of walking away from an agreement; and the effects of lifting sanctions.
One area of disagreement between supporters and opponents of the JCPOA is the consequences of walking away from an agreement, and whether renegotiation of the agreement is a realistic option.
Senator
Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
, Democrat of New York, an opponent of the agreement, called for the U.S. government to keep sanctions in place, strengthen them, and "pursue the hard-trodden path of diplomacy once more, difficult as it may be".
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said that he believed that it was "hyperbole" to say that the agreement was the only alternative to war.
President Obama, by contrast, argued that renegotiation of the deal is unrealistic, stating in his American University speech, "the notion that there is a better deal to be had. ... relies on vague promises of toughness" and stated, "Those making this argument are either ignorant of Iranian society, or they are not being straight with the American people. ... Neither the Iranian government, or the Iranian opposition, or the Iranian people would agree to what they would view as a total surrender of their sovereignty."
Obama also argued, "those who say we can just walk away from this deal and maintain sanctions are selling a fantasy. Instead of strengthening our position, as some have suggested, Congress' rejection would almost certainly result in multi-lateral sanctions unraveling," because "our closest allies in Europe or in Asia, much less China or Russia, certainly are not going to enforce existing sanctions for another five, 10, 15 years according to the dictates of the U.S. Congress because their willingness to support sanctions in the first place was based on Iran ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons. It was not based on the belief that Iran cannot have peaceful nuclear power."
Secretary of State Kerry echoed these remarks, saying in July 2015 that the idea of a "'better deal,' some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation . ... is a fantasy, plain and simple, and our intelligence community will tell you that".
Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, a supporter of the agreement, wrote: "Some say that, should the Senate reject this agreement, we would be in position to negotiate a "better" one. But I've spoken to representatives of the five nations that helped broker the deal, and they agree that this simply wouldn't be the case."
On 28 July 2015 Representative Sander M. Levin, Democrat of Michigan, the longest-serving Jewish member now in Congress, announced in a lengthy statement that he would support the JCPOA, saying, "the agreement is the best way" to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that a rejection of the agreement would lead the international sanctions regime to "quickly fall apart", as "sanctions likely would not be continued even by our closest allies, and the United States would be isolated trying to enforce our unilateral sanctions as to Iran's banking and oil sectors."
A key figure in the congressional review process is Senator Benjamin Cardin of Maryland, a Democrat who is the ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
[Susan Page]
"Cardin: If Iran deal survives, more U.S. aid likely to Israel, Gulf states"
''USA Today'' (21 July 2015). Cardin took a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu opposing the agreement and participated in a private 90-minute session with Energy Secretary Moniz supporting the agreement.
On 21 July Cardin said that if the agreement is implemented, the United States should increase military aid to Israel and friendly Gulf states.
On 4 August 2015 three key and closely watched Senate Democrats—Tim Kaine of Virginia (a Foreign Relations Committee member), Barbara Boxer of California (also a Foreign Relations Committee member), and Bill Nelson (politician), Bill Nelson of Florida—announced their support for the agreement.
[Mike DeBonis]
"Three Senate Democrats came off of the fence to support the Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (4 August 2015). In a floor speech that day, Kaine said that the agreement is "far preferable to any other alternative, including war" and, "America has honored its best traditions and shown that patient diplomacy can achieve what isolation and hostility cannot."
In a similar floor speech the same day, Nelson said, "I am convinced [that the agreement] will stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon for at least the next 10 to 15 years. No other available alternative accomplishes this vital objective" and "If the U.S. walks away from this multinational agreement, I believe we would find ourselves alone in the world with little credibility." Conversely, another closely watched senator,
Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
of New York, who was expected to make a bid to become Senate Democratic leader,
announced his opposition to the agreement on 6 August, writing, "there is a strong case that we are better off without an agreement than with one"
According to an Associated Press report, the classified assessment of the United States Intelligence Community on the agreement concludes that because Iran will be required by the agreement to provide international inspectors with "unprecedented volume of information about nearly every aspect of its existing nuclear program", Iran's ability to conceal a covert weapons program will be diminished.
[Ken Dilanian]
"US officials say they can tell if Iran is cheating on deal"
Associated Press (12 August 2015).[Karoun Demirjian]
"House Dems pounce on intel assessment of Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (13 August 2015). In a 13 August letter to colleagues, ten current and former Democratic members of the House Select Committee on Intelligence (including House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Intelligence Committee ranking member Adam Schiff) referred to this assessment as a reason to support the agreement, writing, "We are confident that this monitoring and the highly intrusive inspections provided for in the agreement—along with our own intelligence capabilities—make it nearly impossible for Iran to develop a covert enrichment effort without detection."
["Current and Former House Intelligence Committee Members Urge Colleagues to Review Intelligence Community Assessments of Iran Nuclear Deal"](_blank)
, United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Democratic Office (13 August 2015). The ten members also wrote "You need not take our word for it" and referred members to the classified assessment itself, which is located in an office in the United States Capitol, Capitol basement and is available for members of Congress to read.
=Congressional votes
=
A resolution of disapproval was initially expected to pass both the House and Senate, meaning, "The real challenge for the White House is whether they can marshal enough Democrats to sustain the veto."
Two-thirds of both houses (the House of Representatives and the Senate) are required to override a veto, meaning that one-third of either house (146 votes in the House, or 34 in the Senate) could sustain (uphold) President Obama's veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Amber Phillips]
"Whip count: Where the Senate stands on the Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (5 August 2015).[Lauren French]
''Politico'' (13 August 2015).
By early September 2015, 34 senators had publicly confirmed support for the deal, a crucial threshold because it ensured that the Senate could sustain (i. e., uphold) any veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Amber Phillips]
"President Obama's Iran deal nears a major symbolic victory"
''The Washington Post'' (8 September 2015). Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland announced support on 2 September, a day after Chris Coons of Delaware and Bob Casey, Jr., of Pennsylvania also announced support, reaching 34 votes and assuring that an eventual disapproval resolution passed in the Senate could not override an Obama veto.
By the following day, 38 Democratic senators supported the deal, 3 were opposed, and 5 were still undecided.
By 8 September, all senators had made a commitment on the agreement, with 42 in support (40 Democrats and two independents) and 58 opposed (54 Republicans and four Democrats).
It was possible for senators in support of the agreement to kill the disapproval resolution outright in the Senate by effectively filibustering it, making it unnecessary for Obama to veto a disapproval resolution at all.
But this was possible only if at least 41 voted to do so, and several senators in support of the agreement, including Coons, "have suggested they'd prefer an up-or-down vote on the deal, instead of blocking it altogether".
The apparent success of a strategy to marshal congressional support for the deal, linked to a carefully orchestrated rollout of endorsements (although Party leaders of the United States Senate, Democratic Senate Whip Dick Durbin and other officials disputed the suggestion of coordination
) was attributed to lessons the White House and congressional Democrats learned during struggles in previous summers with Republicans, in particular over Obamacare.
An August 2015 meeting at which top diplomats from the UK, Russia, China, Germany, and France told 10 undecided Democratic senators they had no intention of returning to the negotiating table was reported to be particularly crucial.
Coons said: "They were clear and strong that we will not join you in re-imposing sanctions."
On 20 August 2015, Pelosi said that House Democrats had the votes to uphold a veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Sabrina Siddiqui]
"Congress does not have votes to block Iran deal, says Nancy Pelosi"
''The Guardian'' (20 August 2015). To sustain a veto, she would need to hold only 146 of the 188 House Democrats; by 20 August, about 60 House Democrats had publicly declared their support for the final agreement, and about 12 had publicly declared their opposition.
In May 2015, before the final agreement was announced, 151 House Democrats signed in support for the broad outlines in the April framework agreement; none of those signatories have announced opposition to the final agreement.
It was originally expected that the House would vote on a formal resolution of disapproval introduced by Representative Ed Royce, Republican of California, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As the Senate moved toward a vote on a resolution of disapproval, House leadership (under Republican control) planned to vote on a similar resolution of disapproval.
But conservative Republicans "revolted in protest" as "the chamber's right flank wanted tougher action from its leader" and the House Republican leadership (under Speaker John Boehner) planned to vote instead chose to bring a resolution of approval to the floor "as a way to effectively force Democrats who had voiced support for the president to formally register such endorsement".
On 11 September 2015 the resolution failed, as expected, on a 162–269 vote; 244 Republicans and 25 Democrats voted no, while 162 Democrats and no Republicans voted yes.
On the same day House Republicans held two additional votes, one on a resolution claiming that the Obama administration had failed to meet the requirements of a congressional review period on the deal and another resolution which would prevent the United States from lifting any sanctions.
[Lauren French]
"House GOP disapproves of Iran deal in symbolic vote"
''Politico'' (11 September 2015). The former resolution passed on a party-line vote, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed; the latter resolution passed on nearly a party-line vote, with all Republicans and two Democrats in favor, and every other Democrat opposed.
["Final Vote Results for Roll Call 492"](_blank)
an
"Final Vote Results for Roll Call 494"
(11 September 2015), Office of the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. The House action against the resolution was a "symbolic vote that will have no consequence for the implementation of the deal", and the two anti-agreement measures passed by the House were seen as "unlikely to even reach Obama's desk".
On 10 September, the day before the vote, Boehner threatened to "use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow, and delay this agreement from being fully implemented", and said that a lawsuit by House Republicans against the president (claiming that the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act was not followed) was "an option that is very possible".
Four months later House Republicans abandoned their plans for a lawsuit against the administration over the JCPOA.
In July 2015, conservative legal activist Larry Klayman filed a lawsuit against Obama and members of Congress in United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida, federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, asserting that the agreement should be considered a treaty requiring Senate ratification. Klayman's suit was dismissed for lack of standing (law), standing in September 2015.
Review period in Iran
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei issued a letter of guidelines to President Rouhani, ordering him on how to proceed with the deal.
[
] On 21 June 2015, the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) decided to form a committee to study the JCPOA and to wait at least 80 days before voting on it.
[Thomas Erdbrink]
"Iran Lawmakers to Wait 80 Days Before Voting on Nuclear Deal"
''The New York Times'' (21 July 2015). Foreign minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Mohammad Javad Zarif Khansari ( fa, محمدجواد ظریف خوانساری, Mohammad-Javād Zarīf Khānsāri ; ; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He was the foreign minister of Iran from 2013 until 2021 in th ...
and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief Ali Akbar Salehi, defended the deal in Parliament on the same day.
Although the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iranian constitution gives Parliament the right to cancel the deal, it was reported that this outcome is unlikely.
''The New York Times'' reported, "the legislators have effectively opted to withhold their judgment until they know whether the American Congress approves of the deal."
In televised remarks made on 23 July 2015, Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani ( fa, حسن روحانی, Standard Persian pronunciation: ; born Hassan Fereydoun ( fa, حسن فریدون, links=no); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. ...
rejected domestic criticism of the JCPOA from Iranian hardliners, "such as the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its allies", which "have criticized the accord as an invasive affront to the country's sovereignty and a capitulation to foreign adversaries, particularly the United States".
[Thomas Erdbrink & Rock Gladstone]
"Iran's President Defends Nuclear Deal in Blunt Remarks"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). In remarks described by ''The New York Times ''as "blunt" and uncharacteristically frank, Rouhani claimed a popular mandate to make an agreement based on 2013 Iranian presidential election, his election in 2013 and warned that the alternative was "an economic Stone Age" brought on by sanctions which (as the ''Times'' described) have "shriveled oil exports and denied the country access to the Global financial system, global banking system".
On 26 July, a two-page, top-secret directive sent to Iranian newspaper editors from Iran's Supreme National Security Council surfaced online.
[Kasra Naji]
"Iran nuclear: Media ordered to be positive about deal"
BBC Persian Television, BBC Persian (26 July 2015). In the document, newspapers are instructed to avoid criticism of the agreement and to avoid giving the impression of "a rift" at the highest levels of government.
The BBC reported that the document appears to be aimed at constraining criticism of the JCPOA by Iranian hardliners.
On 3 September, Iranian supreme leader Khamenei said that the Majlis should make the final decision on the agreement.
[Jay Solomon]
"Iran Leaders Say Parliament Will Have Final Say on Fate of Nuclear Deal"
''The Wall Street Journal'' (3 September 2015). On the same day, Ali Larijani, the List of Speakers of the Parliament of Iran, speaker of the parliament, said that he supported the agreement and that: "The agreement needs to be discussed and needs to be approved by the Iranian parliament. There will be heated discussions and debates."
Abbas Milani and Michael McFaul wrote: "those [in Iran] supporting the deal include moderates inside the government, many opposition leaders, a majority of Iranian citizens, and many in the Iranian American diaspora—a disparate group that has rarely agreed on anything until now."
[Abbas Milani & Michael McFaul]
"What the Iran-Deal Debate Is Like in Iran"
''The Atlantic'' (11 August 2015). Within the government, Rouhani and Foreign Minister Javad Zarif, who negotiated the agreement, "are now the most vocal in defending it against Iranian hawks".
Also vocally supporting the agreement are former presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami and moderates within parliament.
The agreement is also supported by most prominent opposition leaders, including Mir-Hossein Mousavi, a 2009 Iranian presidential election, 2009 presidential candidate who is under house arrest for his role as a leader of the Iranian Green Movement, Green Movement.
Conversely, "the most militantly authoritarian, conservative, and anti-Western leaders and groups within Iran oppose the deal."
The anti-agreement coalition in Iran includes former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former head of Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Fereydoon Abbasi, ex-nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili; and various conservative clerics and Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Revolutionary Guard commanders.
This group has "issued blistering attacks on the incompetence of Iran's negotiating team, claiming that negotiators caved on many key issues and were outmaneuvered by more clever and sinister American diplomats".
Iranian defense minister Hossein Dehqan said on 2 September that Iran would not allow the IAEA to visit every site or facility that it wishes.
The Majlis special commission for examining the JCPOA, has invited Ali Shamkhani, as well as members of former List of Iranian nuclear negotiators, nuclear negotiation team including Ali Bagheri and Fereydoon Abbasi to comment on the deal. During the session, Saeed Jalili, ex-chief negotiator has slammed the deal, stating "approximately 100 absolute rights" of Iran were conceded to the opposing side. He believes the deal is "unacceptable" because Iran makes an "exceptional [nuclear case], replacing 'permission' with 'right' under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, NPT, and accepting unconventional measures". He also believes that the deal has crossed the Red line (phrase), red lines drawn by the Supreme leader of Iran. His testimony was criticized by commission members Masoud Pezeshkian and Abbas Ali Mansouri Arani. In another session, current negotiators Abbas Araqchi and Majid Takht-Ravanchi defended the deal, led by Javad Zarif.
In the Iranian media, the leading reformist newspapers, ''Etemad'' and ''Shargh'', "continue to write approvingly of the negotiations and their outcome".
[Tara Kangarlou]
"Tehran's debate over nuclear pact mirrors Washington's"
Al-Jazeera (13 August 2015). Conversely, the leading conservative paper ''Ettelaat'' has criticized the agreement.
The most "bombastic and hard-line criticism of the deal" has come from ''Kayhan'', which is edited by Hossein Shariatmadari and closely associated with Khamenei, the supreme leader.
The agreement is supported by many Iranian dissidents, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate, human rights activist, and Iranian exile Shirin Ebadi, who "labeled as 'extremists' those who opposed the agreement in Iran and America".
Likewise, dissident journalist and former political prisoner Akbar Ganji expressed hope, "step-by-step nuclear accords, the lifting of economic sanctions and the improvement of the relations between Iran and Western powers will gradually remove the warlike and securitized environment from Iran."
Citing Human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, Iran's human rights situation and the "lack of Freedom of religion in Iran, religious and political freedom in the country", some dissidents opposed the agreement, including Ahmad Batebi, Nazanin Afshin-Jam, and Roozbeh Farahanipour, who signed an open letter arguing, "more pressure should be applied to the regime, not less."
On 13 October ''The New York Times'' and many other major U.S. news sources reported that the Iranian Parliament had approved the JCPOA with 161 votes in favor, 59 against and 13 abstentions. Major Iranian news sources including Fars News Agency and Press TV, called a semi-official government source by U.S. media, reported that what was actually approved was a document consisting of the text of the JCPOA supplemented by text unilaterally added by Iran and not agreed to by the P5+1.
Adoption Day
On 18 October 2015 EU High Representative Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif jointly announced "Adoption Day" for the JCPOA, noting actions taken and planned by the EU, Iran, the IAEA, and the United States, and stating, "All sides remain strongly committed to ensuring that implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action can start as soon as possible."
On 20 September 2015, Director-General Yukiya Amano of the IAEA went to the
Parchin
Parchin ( fa, پارچین) is an Iranian military complex, located about southeast of Tehran. It is closely linked with the Khojir missile production complex.
Geography
Parchin is located on the bank of the Jajrud (river).
History
...
missile production facility, along with Director of Safeguards Tero Varjoranta, to obtain clarifications on the nuclear activities of the site.
The next day, Amano professed satisfaction with the samples taken by the Iranians themselves and handed over to the IAEA under "established procedures". IAEA experts were not physically present during the sampling, but Amano said the procedure meets "strict agency criteria" that ensure "the integrity of the sampling process and the authenticity of the samples."
In June 2016, IAEA investigators reported to the ''Wall Street Journal'' that they had reported in December 2015 traces of uranium found at the Parchin facility.
Implementation Day
After the IAEA confirmed that Iran met the relevant requirements under the JCPOA, all nuclear sanctions were lifted by the UN, the EU and the United States on 16 January 2016.
Washington imposed new sanctions on 11 companies and individuals for supplying Iran's ballistic missile program on the first day of the implementation.
According to Kerry, $1.7 billion in debt with interest was to be paid to Tehran. But some Iranian financial institutions, including Ansar Bank, Bank Saderat, Bank Saderat PLC, and Mehr Bank, remained on the SDN List and a number of U.S. sanctions with respect to Iran, including existing terrorism, human rights and ballistic missiles-related sanctions, remained in place.
Status in U.S. law
In a letter sent to then U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, the U.S. State Department said that the JCPOA "is not a treaty or an
executive agreement
An executive agreement is an agreement between the heads of government of two or more nations that has not been ratified by the legislature as treaties are ratified. Executive agreements are considered ''politically binding'' to distinguish them ...
, and is not a signed document".
According to the Congressional Research Service, different definitions of "treaty" are used in international law and in domestic U.S. law. According to the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties, "The term 'treaty' has a broader meaning under international law than under domestic law. Under international law, 'treaty' refers to any binding international agreement. Under domestic U.S. law, 'treaty' signifies only those binding international agreements that have received the advice and consent of the United States Senate, Senate."
Reactions in U.S. media
Some argue that deterrence is the key to ensuring not just that Iran is in compliance with the agreement but also to preventing them from developing nuclear weapons.
Former Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation Robert Einhorn, a supporter of the agreement, wrote it would be better to have permanent or longer-term restrictions on Iran's enrichment program, but preventing a nuclear-armed Iran is possible, "provided the United States and key partners maintain a strong and credible deterrent against a future Iranian decision to go for the bomb".
According to Michael Eisenstadt, Director of the Military and Security Studies Program at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, "deterring Iran from developing or acquiring nuclear weapons will remain the core imperative driving U.S. policy in the coming years".
Four days after the JCPOA was adopted, Khamenei delivered a speech, highlighting his Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons, fatwa and rejecting the claim that the nuclear talks rather than Iran's religious abstinence prevented Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. He said:
In a letter
addressed to Representative Jerrold Nadler, Democrat of New York, President Obama raised the issue about U.S. ability to deter Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons:
Ambassador Dennis Ross, former top Mideast official, and General David Petraeus, former CIA director, wrote in a ''Washington Post'' op-ed, "Bolstering deterrence is essential in addressing key vulnerabilities" of the agreement. Petraeus and Ross asserted that if Iran decide to race toward a nuclear weapon "there is a need not to speak of our options but of our readiness to use force", since the threat of force is far more likely to deter the Iranians. They said the president could resolve their concerns by stating that he would use military force to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, including producing highly enriched uranium, even after the deal ends in 15 years. It is "critically important for the president to state this clearly, particularly given his perceived hesitancy to use force", they said.
In the same letter, Obama detailed the possible non-military unilateral and multilateral responses to be employed should Iran violate the agreement, but also wrote, "Ultimately, it is essential that we retain the flexibility to decide what responsive measures we and our allies deem appropriate for any non-compliance."
Flexibility meant that Obama rejected specifying "the penalties for smaller violations of the accord" in advance.
Open letter
The open letter, which was signed by more than 100 former U.S. ambassadors and high-ranking State Department officials endorsing the agreement, begins with the words: "The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran stands as a landmark agreement in deterring the proliferation of nuclear weapons."
In contrast, Michael Mandelbaum, the Christian A. Herter Professor at the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies, wrote that nuclear nonproliferation in the Middle East ultimately depended "not on the details of the Vienna agreement but on the familiar Cold-War policy of deterrence". Mandelbaum added that if Obama left office without Iran building the bomb, "the responsibility for conducting a policy of effective deterrence will fall on his successor."
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz said, "Nothing currently on the table will deter Iran. Sanctions are paper protests to an oil-rich nation. Diplomacy has already failed because Russia and China are playing both sides."
[ See als]
"Excerpt from 'The Case Against the Iran Deal'"
The Times of Israel blogs.
U.S. denies recertification and then withdraws (2017–present)
The United States certified in April 2017 and in July 2017 that Iran was complying with the deal.
On 13 October 2017 President Trump announced that he would not make the certification required under the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, ''Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act'', accusing Iran of violating the "spirit" of the deal and calling on the U.S. Congress and international partners to "address the deal's many serious flaws so that the Iranian regime can never threaten the world with nuclear weapons".
Declaring that he would not certify the deal, Trump left it up to Congress whether to reimpose sanctions on Iran and "blow up" the deal. But Trump's aides sought to enact rules indicating how the United States could "reimpose sanctions", and Trump listed three items that could provide such a "trigger" for leaving the deal: Iran's intercontinental ballistic missile, Iranian rejection of "an extension of the deal's existing constraint on its nuclear activities", and "evidence that Iran could manufacture a bomb in less than 12 months". Trump described the deal as "one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into".
Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani ( fa, حسن روحانی, Standard Persian pronunciation: ; born Hassan Fereydoun ( fa, حسن فریدون, links=no); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. ...
said that getting out from the Iran nuclear deal would "carry a high cost" for the United States, and that no president was allowed to "single-handedly revoke" the deal signed by the UN.
After Trump said that he "cannot and will not" recertify the nuclear deal with Iran, Theresa May, Emmanuel Macron and Angela Merkel supported the deal in a joint statement. Mogherini, the European Union's foreign policy chief, said that the agreement was working well and that no one country could break the deal made by Britain, France, Germany, Russia, China and the European Union. She suggested a "collective process" for keeping the deal. Russia's foreign minister confirmed that Iran was abiding by the deal.
U.S. withdrawal (May 2018)
On 8 May 2018 the United States officially withdrew from the agreement after U.S. President
Donald Trump
Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021.
Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...
signed a Presidential Memorandum ordering the reinstatement of harsher sanctions. In his 8 May speech President Trump called the Iran deal "horrible" and said the United States would "work with our allies to find a real, comprehensive, and lasting solution" to prevent Iran from developing nuclear arms. The IAEA has continued to assess that Iran has been in compliance with JCPOA and that it had "no credible indications of activities in Iran relevant to the development of a nuclear explosive device after 2009". Other parties to the deal stated that they will work to preserve the deal even after the U.S. withdrawal.
Consequences of U.S. withdrawal
The Iranian currency dropped significantly right after Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal. The U.S. dollar was worth 35,000 rial before U.S. withdrawal and 300,000 in 2021. International banks that chose to trade with Iran during the sanctions paid large fines. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said, "I said from the first day: don't trust America". The American flag was set on fire in Iran's Parliament. According to Israel Defense Forces, IDF sources, Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Forces based in Syria launched rockets at Israeli military targets the next evening, 9 May. CNN reported that, "if confirmed", it was "the first time Iranian forces have fired rockets directly at Israeli forces."
Ali Khamenei's conditions for Europe to preserve the JCPOA
Following the U.S. withdrawal from JCPOA, Iran supreme leader Ali Khamenei presented seven conditions for Europe to meet its commitments. Among them was that European powers must take steps to preserve business relations with Iranian banks and purchase Iranian oil despite U.S. pressure. He also said there was no need to hold new discussions about Iran's
ballistic missile
A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles stay within the ...
program and regional activities.
Defection of Iran (May 2019 – November 2019)
In May 2019, the IAEA certified that Iran was abiding by the deal's main terms, but questions were raised about how many advanced centrifuges Iran was allowed to have, as that was only loosely defined in the deal.
On 8 May 2019, Iran announced it would suspend implementation of some parts of the JCPOA, threatening further action in 60 days unless it received protection from U.S. sanctions.
On 7 July 2019, Iran announced that it had started to increase uranium enrichment beyond the agreed 3.67% limit.
The same day, the IAEA stated its inspectors would verify Iran's announcement.
Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif sent a letter to his European counterpart
Federica Mogherini
Federica Mogherini (; born 16 June 1973) is an Italian politician who served as High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission from 2014 to 2019. She previously served as I ...
notifying her about Iran's noncompliance.
On 4 November 2019, Iran doubled the number of advanced centrifuges it operates. Iran is also enriching uranium to 4.5%; the agreement limits enrichment to 3.67%. On 5 November 2019, Iranian nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi announced that Iran will enrich uranium to 5% at the
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant
Fordow Fuel Enrichment Plant (FFEP) is an Iranian underground uranium enrichment facility located northeast of the Iranian city of Qom, near Fordow village, at a former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps base. The site is under the control of the ...
, adding that it had the capability to enrich uranium to 20% if needed.
Diplomatic conflict (2019–present)
One year after the United States withdrew from the JCPOA and reimposed several unilateral sanctions on Iran, Iran took countermeasures. As a first step, according to Rouhani, Iran halted sales of excess enriched uranium and heavy water to other countries. Rouhani also said that Iran would resume enrichment of uranium beyond 3.67% if other parties could not fulfill their duties to let Iran benefit from the economic advantages of the JCPOA. Iran made this decision after all major European companies abandoned doing business with Iran out of fear of U.S. punishment.
On 14 May 2019, in a meeting with senior officials, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei, described negotiations with the United States on another nuclear deal as "poison" and said, "We don't seek a war, and they don't either. They know it's not in their interests".
In 2020, Trump and Pompeo asserted that the U.S. remained a "participant" in the agreement, despite having formally withdrawn in 2018, in an effort to persuade the
United Nations Security Council
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...
to reimpose pre-agreement sanctions on Iran for its breaches of the deal after the United States' withdrawal. The agreement provided for a resolution process among signatories in the event of a breach, but that process had not yet played out.
Speaking about the U.S. desire to restore UN sanctions against Iran and extend an embargo to arms sales to it in 2020, US Ambassador to the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft said: "History is replete of tragedies of appeasing regimes such as this one, that for decades have kept its own people under its thumb. The Trump administration has no fear in standing in limited company on this matter, in light of the unmistakable truth guiding our actions. I only regret that other members of this [Security Council] have lost their way, and now find themselves standing in the company of terrorists." She also wrote a letter to the UN Security Council president on September 20, 2020, pressing her point on sanctions.
Speaking at the U.S. State Department in September 2020, she said: "As we have in the past, we will stand alone to protect peace and security at all times. We don't need a cheering section to validate our moral compass."
After the Iranian regime's arrest of human rights activist Farhad Meysami, the United States Department of State, U.S. State Department supported him in a statement. Meysami then wrote a letter sharply criticizing Pompeo and the Trump administration, writing, "I would much rather spend all my life imprisoned by a group of my oppressive and ignorant compatriots and try to correct their wrongdoing through reformist action, than to spend a second submitting to the shame and disgrace of support from those who did not follow through with their obligations and withdrew from the rational and peaceful Iran Nuclear Deal (JCPOA) against all principles of morality and international law, and re-imposed inhumane sanctions which have thrown millions of my fellow Iranians into poverty".
After Biden was elected president in 2020, he stated his intention to rejoin the Iran deal. Naftali Bennett, who replaced Netanyahu as Israeli Prime Minister, advised against it, saying, "These very days illustrate what the world would look like if a radical Islamic regime acquired a nuclear weapon. That marriage would be a nuclear nightmare for the entire world. The first goal is to stop Iran on its regional aggression and start rolling them back into the box. And the second is to permanently keep Iran away from ever being able to break out the nuclear weapon."
Re-entry negotiations (2021–2022)
In April 2021, talks between the parties to the original agreement took place in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. But due to the election of a new president in Iran, the meetings were put on hold in June 2021. Enrique Mora, EU coordinator for reviving negotiations with Iran, attended the inauguration of the new Iranian president, Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran in August. Iran sought assurances from the EU that there will be no repetition of the unilateral U.S. withdrawal. On 14 October 2021, Iran and the EU agreed to hold further negotiations in
Brussels
Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...
. Iranian deputy foreign minister Ali Bagheri reiterated Mora's statement that "the EU was ready to collaborate with Iran and the other parties". US Secretary of State, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters that he hoped new talks would succeed but stressed that "the runway that we have left to do is getting shorter and shorter".
On 24 October 2021, Russia's ambassador at the International Atomic Energy Agency, United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, Mikhail Ivanovich Ulyanov, Mikhail Ulyanov, called Iran's demand that the U.S. not withdraw from the JCPOA again "logical and justifiable". President Joe Biden had previously refused to give Iran such assurances. A joint statement by the leaders of France, Germany, the U.K., and the U.S. on October 30 welcomed "President Biden's clearly demonstrated commitment to return the U.S. to full compliance with the JCPOA and to stay in full compliance, so long as Iran does the same." Talks resumed in Vienna on 29 November 2021, with representatives from Iran, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the U.K. present.
At the start of the seventh round of negotiations, European, Russian, British, Chinese and Iranian negotiators expressed optimism about reviving the JCPOA. A European diplomat said that in June 2021, 70% to 80% of a draft deal had been agreed upon. Mora said he felt "extremely positive" about what he had seen. Bagheri called everything discussed so far merely a “draft” and presented Iran's own new draft. Western negotiators called Iran's new proposals "unacceptable" and saw little chance of a successful negotiation unless Iran changed its position. Iranian negotiators insisted that the U.S. first lift all sanctions before Iran would scale back its nuclear program, contradicting the previous understanding of "compliance for compliance." On 9 December 2021, negotiations to save the deal continued as Russia and China exerted diplomatic pressure on Iran to revise its stance. According to the Russian ambassador Mikhail Ulyanov, "a number of misunderstandings that created some tension had been eliminated and everyone confirmed their commitment to productive work". The previous week's negotiations had stalled as Iran's draft proposal, demanding the removal of all sanctions, was unacceptable to European negotiators.
On 20 February 2022, 250 members of the 290-member Iranian parliament, which has been controlled by conservatives and hardliners since 2020, issued a statement urging Raisi to comply with their requirements in reviving the JCPOA.
In early March 2022, a senior official and spokesperson for the State Department said, "the parties are close to a possible deal but a number of very difficult issues remain unsolved". The U.S. is engaged in indirect talks with Iran in Vienna, mediated by China, Russia and European parties of the original agreement. Revival of the JCPOA became a priority for the Biden administration when the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, war in Ukraine further affected global energy prices. About a million barrels of Iranian oil each day could be added to the international market, which would have a significant impact on crude oil prices and reduce the threat of nuclear war in the region.
On 5 March 2022, Iran claimed it had reached an agreement with the IAEA to resolve all outstanding doubts about undeclared materials from three nuclear sites by late June. IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, who visited Iran in early March, is to present those findings to the governing body by July. Russian demands to explicitly protect its economic relations with Iran have been identified as a potential stumbling block for the U.S. administration. Later, Russia received guarantees from the U.S. to protect its trade relations with Iran from Western sanctions. Visiting Iran in late March, Mora attempted to resolve remaining differences. Meanwhile, Iran confirmed the removal of its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) from a U.S. terror blacklist to be another issue in the negotiations. On 26 March 2022, European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell told a forum in Doha that the restoration of the Iran nuclear agreement was expected in "a matter of days", but that "political decisions" were required from Tehran and Washington.
By May 2022, talks to revive the JCPOA had completely stalled, as Republicans in the U.S. Congress pushed the Biden administration away from negotiations with Iran. On 7 May 2022, Mora again visited Iran to restart the talks amid a breakdown in communications among the parties to the agreement.
Iran has demanded that the U.S. delist the IRGC from its terror blacklist in exchange for reviving the JCPOA. (Former President Trump added the IRGC to the blacklist after withdrawing from the JCPOA.) The Biden administration has replied that the original deal did not involve this listing and that the two matters are "separate", and that if Iran wants sanctions relief beyond the original deal, it will have to make commitments beyond the original deal. On 24 April 2022, after a phone call with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Biden decided to keep the IRGC on the U.S. terror blacklist, with the backing of a bipartisan majority of U.S. senators. In a contradictory statement, Iran Foreign Minister Hossein Amir-Abdollahian said on 26 May 2022 that the blacklisting of the IRGC was "not significant" and that it was not the "main hurdle". In June 2022 Tehran said that it was removing 27 tamper-proof surveillance cameras that had been installed by experts at the UN atomic watchdog. Rafael Grossi said the move could be a “fatal blow” to nuclear deal negotiations. On 16 June, the Biden administration announced new sanctions against Iran's petrochemical industry, in an effort to persuade Iran to return to the JCPOA. In a 5 July interview, U.S. Special Envoy for Iran Robert Malley said that Iranian negotiators had added demands, such as the delisting of the IRGC, that were outside the scope of the JCPOA. Iran insists the blacklisting of the IRGC was a unilateral U.S. action under Trump after the agreement was annulled.
On 6 July 2022, the U.S. announced another round of sanctions targeting the Iranian petrochemical industry, while initiating new legal proceedings against entities based in Singapore, Vietnam and the United Arab Emirates. The new sanctions were announced just days after a round of indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran in Qatar. Biden and his team have expressed their commitment to reviving the deal through mutual compliance, but the U.S. has tightened sanctions against Iran since Trump unilaterally withdrew from the agreement. While EU officials have shown continued interest to negotiate a "strong and durable" agreement, U.S. officials have warned that the window for achieving a meaningful deal is closing as "Tehran acquires nuclear expertise irreversibly".
After indirect talks between the U.S. and Iran in Doha in late June again yielded no results, British sources expressed skepticism that Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei actually wanted to revive a nuclear deal with world powers. Iran accused French, British and U.S. diplomats of stalling the agreement. At the same time, Iran grew more critical of Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), calling his comments "politically motivated". But Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a late July press release that Iran is "definitely thinking about an agreement". According to Iran's foreign ministry, the accord's finalization hinges on a political decision by the United States.
In August 2022, Iran demanded closure of a multiyear probe by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over man-made nuclear material found in Iran as a condition for restoring the JCPOA. Later that month, European negotiators presented a "final" text for the U.S. and Iran to consider, after another round of discussions the week before. Iranian officials met the new draft with "guarded optimism“, which significantly increased the chance that the nuclear deal would be revived. According to the Iranian side, the new draft has "substantially evolved", with significant improvements from its previous versions. The August draft did not include Tehran's demand that the U.S. lift the IRGC's terrorism designation, according to a senior U.S. official, who also claimed that Iran dropped its call for the IAEA to end the investigation into traces of uranium at three undeclared sites.
On September 2, 2022, Iran's Foreign Ministry said it had sent a "constructive" response to U.S. proposals to revive the JCPOA, but the U.S. State Department said the response was not constructive. According to EU's chief negotiator Josep Borrell, the parties had initially issued a series of "reasonable requests" to the European draft deal, when Iran agreed to no longer demand the delisting of the IRGC. Iran still insisted on more guarantees for any future, unilateral withdrawals from the current agreement. Later Borrell stated that after a convergence in the negotiations, a divergence was now obvious, and the process was "in danger". Likely the remaining disagreement between Iran and the U.S. involve pertinent enforcement actions by the IAEA to limit Tehran's nuclear programme.
On September 10, France, Britain, and Germany released a statement that they had "serious doubts as to Iran's intentions and commitment to a successful outcome on the JCPoA", prompting Iran's Foreign Ministry to say the statement was "unconstructive" and taking the "Zionist path". Russia’s envoy to the negotiations called the European reaction “very untimely indeed”, and said the remaining issue "was not a serious obstacle". Nevertheless, hopes for an Iran deal faded, and the price of WTI crude increased by 2%. Moreover, Iran has increased its oil exports to China with favorable prices, circumventing economic sanctions. On September 16, during an interview before his talk at the
United Nations
The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...
, Ebrahim Raisi said that despite the claim that the Biden administration is different from the
Trump administration
Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...
, "we haven’t witnessed any changes in reality.” Shortly after, France's foreign minister said, "there is no better offer for Iran" on the table.
On October 12, at a news conference in Washington, U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said that reviving the JCPOA is "not our focus right now" and that the U.S. was concentrating on how to support Iranian protesters in their peaceful demonstrations.
On October 17, former U.S. diplomat Richard N. Haass wrote on Twitter, "Iran’s support for Russia & crackdown on protests has ended any chance the U.S. will rejoin the JCPOA anytime soon if ever as it would throw an economic lifeline to a repressive and aggressive regime that could well be on the ropes".
On 31 October 2022, Iran Special Envoy Robert Malley said that the U.S. still supports restoring the JCPOA, but that talks were not the focus at the time, saying, "We are not going to waste our time on it" because "nothing is happening" on that matter, though "from a nonproliferation perspective the U.S. cannot afford to wait for much longer for Iran to moderate its demands over the IAEA investigation or to see how the current protests play out". In November 2022, Italy's Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, addressing the issue of the ongoing EU-mediated talks to revive the JCPOA, struck a more positive tone, saying that Europe should "do its utmost" to revive the nuclear deal. Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in October that the U.S. and Europe are linking the negotiations on the JCPOA to “recent issues in Iran” that involve Iran's "internal affairs".
On 15 December 2022, it was announced the
International Atomic Energy Agency
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is an intergovernmental organization that seeks to promote the peaceful use of nuclear energy and to inhibit its use for any military purpose, including nuclear weapons. It was established in 1957 ...
(IAEA) would send a delegation to Tehran on 18th December 2022 to clarify outstanding issues with regard to nuclear material discovered at three sites. According to the report, the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) cited Mohammad Eslami, head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, as saying that this interaction would hopefully remove obstacles and ambiguities. Earlier Iran reported it had enriched uranium to its highest level of 60%, one step away from weapons grade. IAEA Director General Grossi confirmed the invitation by Tehran, where a technical team would address outstanding safeguard issues. Despite political unrest in Iran after the death of a young Kurdish woman in police custody in September 2022, and additional sanctions on Iranian entities, "the definitive death of the JCPOA is not a foregone conclusion", according to Near East Policy experts, assuming Tehran abandons its position on IAEA probes. Iran also participates in the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, which implements safeguards for fissionable materials in all peaceful nuclear activities.
On 20 December 2022, a meeting was held in Amman, Jordan, to further discuss details of a possible deal. Josep Borrell noted the bloc did "not have a better option than the JCPOA to ensure that Iran does not develop nuclear weapons". According to the Iranian foreign ministry, Hossein Amirabdollahian said the talks are "based on a draft that is a result of months of difficult and intensive negotiations".
[ Motamedi M. (20 Dec 2022)]
"Iran and EU signal continued work on nuclear deal in Jordan"
''aljazeera.com.''
See also
* 2016 U.S.–Iran naval incident
* Begin Doctrine (The common term for the Israeli government's preventive strike to the potential enemies' capability to possess WMD)
* Black Cube (a private intelligence company founded by former Israeli intelligence officers)
* United States national emergency with respect to Iran
* The UNSC and the United States resolutions on the Iran Arms
Notes
References
External links
"Joint statement by EU High Representative Federica Mogherini and Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif"at the European External Action Service (EEAS)
* Full text of the agreement:
** Via EEAS:
**
"Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action"**
"Annex I: Nuclear-related commitments"**
"Annex II: Sanctions-related commitments"***
"Attachments to Annex II"**
"Annex III: Civil nuclear cooperation"**
"Annex IV: Joint Commission"**
"Annex V: Implementation Plan"**
; Videos
Inside the Iran Nuclear Deal with the Lead U.S. Negotiator (2015)- Miller Center
On The Same Page: America's Middle East Allies and Regional Threats-
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank and registered lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., United States.
The group's political leanings have been described as hawkish and neoconservative ...
— 1/15/2021
** UAE Minister of State Yousef Al Otaiba
** Bahrain Ambassador to U.S. Rashid al-Khalifa
** Israel Ambassador to U.S. Ron Dermer
Iran Nuclear Deal Progress Report–
Nuclear Threat Initiative
The Nuclear Threat Initiative, generally referred to as NTI, is a non-profit organization located in Washington, D.C. The American foreign policy think tank was founded in 2001 by former U.S. Senator Sam Nunn and describes itself as a "nonprofit ...
(2017)
"The Iran Nuclear Deal Explained"– The Wall Street Journal (2015)
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