GOP plans to kill Iran deal could backfire

By Mitchell Blatt
0 Comment(s)Print E-mail China.org.cn, April 11, 2015
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With the announcement of the framework agreement between Iran and the P5+1 nations, we have been informed that Iran's stockpile of uranium will be cut by 97 percent and its centrifuge stockpile will decrease by 68 percent.

This should be a cause for celebration -- or at least measured optimism -- for those opposed to Iran's nuclear development.

Yet, the very neoconservatives who have been raising the loudest concerns about Iran have already declared their intention to "kill" the deal before it even has a chance to work.

Bill Kristol, founder and editor of The Weekly Standard, a prominent voice for neoconservative thinkers, described it as a bad deal to be utterly rejected.

Of course, neoconservatives and hawkish Republicans were openly trying to sabotage the deal before it had even been negotiated. That's why 47 Republicans signed Sen. Tom Cotton's letter warning Iran the U.S., under a Republican president, wouldn't uphold it, and the Republicans invited Israel PM Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.

Republicans had opposed even talking with Iran before Barack Obama was elected President. In 2008, President George W. Bush said that people who "believe we should negotiate with terrorists and radicals" were comparable to Nazi appeasers.

The number of centrifuges possessed by Iran increased from close to zero in 2005 to 19,000 today. Under the terms of this proposed deal, as laid out in a U.S. State Department fact sheet, the number of centrifuges would drop to 6,100 and stay that way for ten years. The breakout period for a nuclear bomb would expand from two or three months to twelve months. Iran would only be allowed to enrich uranium up to 3.67 percent, well below the amount needed for weapons.

The deal isn't finalized yet, only the framework, so if it is lacking something, why not try to improve it before agreeing to the final specifics?

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