After years of negotiations and months of preparations for the implementation of the JCPOA, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) certified that Iran completed all the necessary nuclear steps required to reach Implementation Day in January.
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In a statement Friday, the lawmakers announced legislation to extend the Iran Sanctions Act by 10 years so the USA can punish the country should it fail to live up to the terms of the milestone nuclear deal.
A White House news release on Tuesday said the bills set to pass this week by congressional Republicans, with little expected resistance from Democrats, contradict the easing of sanctions that the US promised Iran in return for rolling back its nuclear program. Iran’s ballistic missiles are threatening American allies in the Arab world and Israel, raising pressure on the United States to respond with force.
If Trump and his surrogates mention the Iran deal at all at the GOP convention next week in Cleveland, they are sure to continue bashing it as a way to attack the foreign policy of President Barack Obama and of Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state and Trump’s Democratic opponent. He specified that Iran was capable of quickly resuming the level of uranium enrichment it was supposed to cut as part of the deal, in exchange for the lifting of worldwide sanctions.
Within that year, Iran has conducted ballistic missile tests in violation of a UN Security Council resolution that the administration says are outside the scope of the nuclear agreement but UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said are “not consistent with the constructive spirit” of the agreement in a confidential report cited by Bloomberg. It also ended numerous West’s financial, trade and oil sanctions that had hit Iran’s economy hard.
Signing a multi-billion dollar deal is one thing, but getting it formally approved by the US government is another – with some members of Congress seeking to block the Boeing sale because of Iran’s continued support of Bashar al-Assad’s government in Syria.
Mull said Iran has shipped off 98 percent – or 25,000 pounds – of its enriched uranium, and it has filled the core of its heavy-water reactor, capable of producing weapons-grade plutonium, with concrete.
The legacy-making deal, completed a year ago Thursday, is still a work in progress. Kaine is also on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, as is fellow letter signer Chris Coons (D-Del.). The expectation was that Iran would experience a first wave of economic relief by renewing ties with Asian and European companies, without affecting the other non-nuclear sanctions maintained by Washington. Unfortunately, while the world thought the nuclear deal was fair, it failed miserably at addressing human rights issues in Iran.
As we mark the one-year anniversary of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, it is time for Republicans to stop playing games with our safety. Worse yet, Iranian citizens who thought they’d glimpsed a brighter future have been thoroughly disappointed.
“The next (U.S.) president will need to ensure that the Iran deal remains a priority”, Davenport said.
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The House on Wednesday passed a bill to bar the USA purchase of “heavy water”, also with little backing from Democrats. “But the fact is, six months after the deal was implemented, it’s working and has reduced the threat of a nuclear Iran”.
