Congress must support Iran deal implementation
The Iran nuclear agreement does not necessarily herald friendly bilateral relations for the United States and Iran. It does, however, set a healthy precedent for resolving our many differences by reasoned negotiation rather than threats. If fully implemented, the United States and our allies have a chance to put Iran’s nuclear activities under unprecedented international supervision.
Congress has no better alternative than this agreement for preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons. Now that Congress has voted, its members need to step up to support the agreement’s implementation.
{mosads}Remove the rhetoric surrounding the nuclear agreement with Iran, and the remaining questions are whether policymakers believe the deal will restrain Iran’s nuclear program, and whether the verification methods will detect an attempt by Iran to cheat. Naysayers reject the agreement on either the premise that the United States cannot negotiate a good agreement with Iran, or the conflicting assertion that additional sanctions could squeeze more concessions. Both arguments are wrong.
Negotiation channeled the legitimate interests of the United States, its allies, and Iran into a comprehensive plan. This agreement is testament to the necessity of engagement even among adversaries, especially when the parties see that their interests can be aligned. Sanctions alone were unable to hinder the Iranian nuclear program. While they did cripple the Iranian economy, Iran’s nuclear program continued to expand. Both sanctions and the growth of Iran’s nuclear program brought all the actors back to the table, but careful bargaining and problem-solving created the agreement.
Opposition to the agreement is based on the mistaken assumption that Iran—or any nation or non-state actor—can always be compelled to do whatever another party wants if only enough pressure is put on it. Sanctions would not make Iran willingly open its facilities to invasive inspections if it felt these activities jeopardized its national interests. A solid agreement, like this multilateral accord, gives all parties the opportunity to show they are holding up their end of the bargain.
The agreement creates one of the most extensive nuclear inspections regime ever negotiated. The choice all along has been between ‘no agreement’ (with Iran free to act in ways the international community may or may not like) and ‘comprehensive agreement,’ (with Iran working cooperatively and openly with the international community). The accord blocks Iran’s pathways to a bomb and verifies that Iran is meeting its obligations. Iran will place severe technical limits on the types and amounts of nuclear technology it acquires and activities it conducts over the next fifteen years—beyond its commitment under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty not to develop nuclear weapons. In terms of material, Iran will reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 98 percent and redesign its nuclear reactor to make it incapable of producing weapons-grade plutonium. To verify Iran’s compliance, the IAEA will soon begin conducting continuous monitoring of Iran’s key declared nuclear facilities and have access to Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain. In exchange, the United States and its allies will lift the nuclear-related sanctions—sanctions always intended to be removed in a negotiated outcome.
The window to vote on the agreement itself has passed, but new attempts to undermine the agreement are already underway. Gutting this agreement would leave only weak political constraints on Iran’s nuclear program and break the unified front it has built with its close allies. Upholding the agreement means there will be strong technical and political constraints and incentives in place. Congress must consider these consequences before pushing harmful legislation.
Wanis-St. John is the director of the International Peace and Conflict Resolution program at American University. Dover is a program officer at Ploughshares Fund, a global security foundation.
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