Five things you should know about the Iran nuclear deal

The final text of the deal reached Tuesday in Vienna, Austria has not been officially released yet, although details are widely available.

After nearly two years of heated debate, world leaders led by the US and Iran have reached an agreement that will significantly limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting international nuclear-related sanctions.

In a speech, President Obama said the deal “is not built on trust, it is built on verification” – an important distinction for those who are wary of making deals with Iran, reports The Associated Press.

The final text of the deal has not been officially released yet. Representatives from the US, Iran, and other nations are completing their final meetings after an 18-day negotiation marathon held in Vienna, Austria, reports CNN. But details of the agreement are now widely available.

Here are five things you should know about the Iran nuclear deal:

Iran will reduce its nuclear program. The country has long insisted that its nuclear program is for for energy purposes only. The new deal will ensure that Iran uses it for exactly that. According to the Associated Press, "the accord will keep Iran from producing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years." This includes reducing by roughly two-thirds its number of centrifuges and cutting down its current stockpile of low enriched uranium by 98 percent, reported The New York Times. However, American officials acknowledge that the "breakout time" (time it would take Iran to make enough material for a bomb) would begin to shrink after the first decade. 

Economic sanctions on Iran will be lifted in phases. International sanctions on Iran have crippled its economy and its current president, Hassan Rouhani, was elected in 2013 on a platform of trying to lift sanctions. Under the agreement, experts must verify Iran is sticking to its commitments before US and European nuclear-related sanctions are lifted. Measures put in place by the UN were designed to “block the transfer of weapons, components, technology, and dual-use items to Iran’s prohibited nuclear and missile programs” and “to target select sectors of the Iranian economy relevant to its proliferation activities,” according to the US Department of State website.

The United Nations will maintain its arms embargo on Iran, for now. According to the Associated Press, Iran has agreed to the continuation of a UN arms embargo for up to five more years, but it could end earlier if the IAEA finds irrefutable evidence that Iran is not engaging in any work on nuclear weapons.

Not everyone is celebrating the deal. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described the deal as a “mistake of historic proportions.” And as The Washington Post reported, he said “Iran is going to receive a sure path to nuclear weapons. Many of the restrictions that were supposed to prevent it from getting there will be lifted.”

There’s a possibility Congress will say ‘no.’ Support for the deal on Capitol Hill is mixed, with some concerned about ending the arms embargo. But President Obama has warned Congress that it would be irresponsible to block the accord. “No deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East," Obama said Tuesday, as the Associated Press reported

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Five things you should know about the Iran nuclear deal
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2015/0714/Five-things-you-should-know-about-the-Iran-nuclear-deal
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe