Under the agreement, Iran’s nuclear program will be curbed for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of relief from international sanctions.
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The resolution, co-sponsored by all 15 council members and adopted this morning, also authorises a series of measures leading to the end of UN sanctions that have affected Iran’s economy.
U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said the deal gives Iran “an opportunity to prove to the world that it intends to pursue a nuclear program solely for peaceful purposes”. “The serious stakes of the issue merit a debate that rejects the false choice between accepting this agreement and advocating for war“.
She urged Iran to release three “unjustly imprisoned” Americans and to determine the whereabouts of Robert Levinson, a former FBI agent who vanished in Iran in 2007.
The passing of the resolution marks formal UN endorsement for the hard-won, groundbreaking agreement reached between Iran and the so-called P5+1 group after 18 straight days of talks that capped almost two years of negotiations.
“China will continue to have constructive cooperation with all parties, including the United States, to ensure the implementation of the comprehensive agreement and the UN Security Council decision”, Xi said.
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) today sent a message to members of the House and Senate asking them to carefully review the proposed Iranian nuclear deal by probing the administration more deeply on the details.
The official described Netanyahu as “blunt” and “passionate”, offering the same kinds of arguments privately that he has made at length in public. This comes as bipartisan opposition increases toward the deal.
“The nations surrounding us are falling apart and are being replaced by a multitude of terror organizations, armed not only with advanced weaponry, but with murderous ideology”, he said. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. said Congressional approval would be a “real challenge”, calling the agreement “the best deal acceptable to Iran, rather than one that might actually end Iran’s nuclear program”. They asked Ban to send the letter to the Security Council.
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Speaking before a crowd that chanted “Death to America”, he also said the deal would not change Iran’s anti-Western foreign policy.
