A good but not perfect deal on Iran
- By Mitchell Blatt
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E-mail China.org.cn, July 17, 2015
Another point of contention was the difference between "stopping" and "slowing" Iran's nuclear development. Because the deal lapses after less than two decades and allows for limited research and centrifuges, Senator Tom Cotton, a leader of the opposition, said the deal didn't meet American objectives.
"We have to remember the goal of these negotiations from the beginning. It was to stop Iran from enriching uranium and developing nuclear-weapons capability," he said in an interview with CBS News.
To completely stop any and all enrichment would have been impossible. Iran would never have agreed to it. What this deal does do, particularly with the provisions that limit missile sales for eight years, is slow down Iran such that Israel and the other countries in the region will continue to maintain a huge advantage over Iran in terms of military strength. This would mean that Iran isn't quite the "existential" threat to Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says it is. There will be no "death to America" or "wiping Israel off the map." An Iranian attack on either country would be more accurately termed "suicide." Both countries have more than enough second-strike capabilities to decimate Iran in response, should a future Iran develop nuclear weapons.
Presidential candidate Rick Santorum said, "I would have ratcheted up those sanctions. I would have continued to put pressure on this regime to capitulate." He, along with Scott Walker and Rick Perry, pledged to overturn the deal if elected.
New Jersey Governor and fellow Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie, while opposing the deal, pointed out why the next president can't overturn it: "It's not just us involved anymore. We have a number of our allies around the world who're at that table as well, and sanctions are most effective when not only we do it, but the other allies do it."
Russia was getting tired of the sanctions and wouldn't have agreed to more. Europe also wants to trade with Iran. In fact, some analysts think the price of oil could fall as a result of the deal with Iran.
The deal is done. If a Republican wins the presidential election, he or she will be in charge of implementing the deal, and if Republicans are really against Iran developing a nuclear program, they should be talking about how best to make the deal work.
The author is a columnist with China.org.cn. For more information please visit: http://www.china.org.cn/opinion/MitchellBlatt.htm
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