After an 18-day negotiation, a nuclear deal has been struck between Iran and 6 world powers, the so-called P5+1, led by the United States and Secretary of State John Kerry, who have reportedly won the ability to limit Tehran’s nuclear abilities in exchange for lifting a number of crippling international economic sanctions. The agreement with Iran, which remains on the U.S. “State Sponsors of Terror” list, is “not built on trust, it is built on verification,” said President Obama.
The deal will now be sent to Congress, which will have 60 days to either approve or reject the deal. President Obama, reported the BBC, has ensured that he will oblige Iran to:
— remove two-thirds of installed centrifuges (at Natanz), and store them under international supervision
— get rid of 98% of its enriched uranium (“most likely by shipping it to Russia,” writes the New York Times)
— accept that sanctions would be rapidly restored if the deal was violated
— permanently give the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) access “where necessary when necessary”
Very early this morning, President Obama, flanked by a stoic-looking Joe Biden, gave an address from the White House that was broadcast live in Iran. “I will veto any legislation that prevents the successful implementation of this deal,” he said. (A written copy of the parameters of the deal, posted by Russia’s foreign ministry, can apparently be read here.)
Reactions to the deal were decidedly mixed, beginning with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who traded indirect barbs with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani:
When willing to make a deal at any cost, this is the result. From early reports, we can see that the deal is a historic mistake.
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) July 14, 2015
To our neighbours: Do not be deceived by the propaganda of the warmongering Zionist regime. #Iran & its power will translate into your power — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) July 14, 2015
Tablet has been closely covering the prospect of a nuclear deal with Iran for years, led by contributor Lee Smith, primarily under the tag “Obama’s Iran:”
Obama’s Unicorn Deal With Iran By Lee Smith
A comparison of the White House’s political use of fairy tales in negotiating the terms of a nuclear program
Obama’s Harvest of Violence by Hanin Ghaddar
A pact with Iran sends a clear message to Arab liberals: No one will help you
Honey, I Shrunk The Jews! By Lee Smith
Why did Obama send a lowly vice-presidential adviser to inform American Jewish leadership about his Iran deal?
Why The Iran Nuclear Deal Could be Catastrophic for Israel By Emanuele Ottolenghi
Holocaust-denying rhetoric masks Nazi-like fantasies
What Iran Will Buy With Obama’s $50 Billion By Hanin Ghaddar
Why the idea that economic and social pressure can keep Hezbollah in check is deeply flawed
Why Is Obama Abandoning 70 Years of U.S. Nonproliferation Policy? By Matthew Kroenig
Nevermind the finer points of the bargain being struck with Iran. Here’s why the entire premise is faulty—and dangerous.
The ‘Court Jew’ Controversy Re-Erupts By Lee Smith
New reality for an old phenomenon: How Obama and Israel changed the stakes of Jewish power
Jewish Perspectives on Nuclear Weapons—and Deterrence By Shlomo M. Brody
As Iran negotiates its nuclear deal, a look back at decades of debate by rabbis, politicians, and philosophers about the ethics of atomic warfare
Nuclear Options: When is a Pre-emptive Nuclear Strike Moral? By Ron Rosenbaum
Israel’s leading military ethicist, Moshe Halbertal, argues that in some cases a pre-emptive nuclear strike might be moral while nuclear retaliation might not
Iran Wins Big-Time in Vienna By Lee Smith
The West is weak. Say it with me now: concessions, concessions, concessions.
Snap-Back: A Journey Through Iranian Sanctions Evasion in Georgia By Emanuele Ottolenghi
The fantasy is that sanctions halt economies. The reality is that enforcement requires tedious bookkeeping, painstaking forensic work, and the ability to stay a step ahead of experienced middlemen.
Has the Obama Administration Become Iran’s Lawyer? By Lee Smith
A dispatch from Vienna, where the White House continues to cover for the Iranians who refuse to come clean
Iran’s Nixonian Anti-Semitism, and What It Means for the Nuke Deal By Matthew Duss
Would the Islamic Republic’s leaders really drop everything in pursuit of the apocalyptic goal of Jewish annihilation?
Is the Obama Administration Ceding Too Much in the Iran Nuclear Talks? By Jas Chana
As the deadline nears, opponents desire the Islamic Republic to come clean on PMDs
It’s Nuclear: On Iran, Obama and the Scope of Anti-Semitism By Jonathan Zalman
Does the president understand the depths—and destructive implications—of the ayatollahs’ radical views on Jews?
Mohammad Javad Zarif Speak at NYU By Jonathan Zalman
Iranian Foreign Minister greeted by ice cream protest
