Iran Deal Details
- Iran will reduce its current stockpile of low-enriched uranium, which can be processed into bomb-grade fuel, by 98 percent to 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) for 15 years.
- Iran will reduce by two-thirds, to 5,060, the number of centrifuges operating to enrich uranium at its primary processing center in Natanz. Remaining centrifuges get moved to a continuously monitored storage site. Taken together, the limits on fuel and centrifuges would extend, to one year, the amount of time necessary for Iran to produce enough weapons-grade material for a single bomb if it should abandon the accord.
- International sanctions against Iran will be lifted, allowing it to start selling oil again on international markets and using the global financial system for trade.
- An international arms embargo on Iran would be eased gradually, with the pace determined in part by whether the International Atomic Energy Agency judges the Iranian nuclear program to be entirely peaceful.
- Should Iran be judged by an international panel not to be living up to the accord, the sanctions could “snap back” under an unusual mechanism. The panel would consist of the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany, the European Union, Russia and Iran itself, with a majority vote of the eight members sufficient to restore the sanctions.
- New restrictions prevent Iran, for a set period of time, from experimenting with designing warheads and conducting experiments on “multipoint detonations” and other nuclear weapons-related triggers and technologies.
Salon has published a timeline of the deal:
August 2002 – Western intelligence services and an Iranian opposition group reveal a covert nuclear site at the eastern city of Natanz. An inspection by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency reveals it was used to enrich uranium, a process for producing fuel or nuclear warheads.
June 2003 – Britain, France and Germany engage Iran in nuclear negotiations. Washington refuses to join.
October 2003 – Iran suspends uranium enrichment.
February 2006 – Iran announces it will restart uranium enrichment following the election of hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a critical Iran report by the IAEA to the U.N. Security Council, and after Britain, France and Germany walk out of stalled negotiations.
June 2006 – The United States, Russia and China join Britain, France and Germany to form the P5+1 group of nations trying to persuade Iran to curb its nuclear program. Washington initially stays away from the negotiating table.
December 2006 – The U.N. Security Council imposes the first set of sanctions on Iran, banning the sale of sensitive nuclear technology. Five more Security Council resolutions are passed by 2010, tightening the sanctions vise on the Islamic Republic.
November 2007 – The number of uranium-enriching centrifuges assembled by Iran reaches about 3,000 from just a few hundred in 2002. Its stockpile of low-enriched uranium also grows, giving Tehran a theoretical ability to make enough-weapons grade uranium for a bomb within a year.
July 2008 – Under President George W. Bush, the United States joins the nuclear talks for the first time.
September 2009 – Western leaders announce that Iran has dug a covert enrichment site into a mountain, escalating concerns because the facility may be impervious to air attack.
October 2009 – Under President Barack Obama, a senior U.S. diplomat meets one-on-one with Iran’s top nuclear negotiator. The talks are some of the most extensive between Washington and Tehran in three decades.
February 2010 – Iran announces it has started to enrich uranium to near 20 percent, a technical step away from weapons-grade material.
May 2010 – Brazil and Turkey announce their own nuclear deal with Iran, to America’s great dismay. The arrangement quickly falls apart.
January 2011 – Negotiations between Iran and the six world powers break off for what proves a 15-month hiatus. Iran refuses to make deep cuts in its nuclear program.
November 2011 – The IAEA outlines the possible military dimension to Iran’s nuclear activities. Iran denies the allegations, saying they’re based on falsified Israeli and U.S. evidence.
January 2012 – The IAEA says Iran is enriching to 20 percent at its mountain facility near Fordo. The European Union freezes the assets of Iran’s central bank and halts Iranian oil imports.
April 2012 – Negotiations restart between Iran and the six world powers but go nowhere.
July 2012 – U.S. and Iranian officials meet secretly in Oman to see if diplomatic progress is possible. Talks gain speed the following year, particularly when Ahmadinejad’s presidency ends.
August 2013 – Hassan Rouhani defeats several hardline candidates to become Iran’s president, declaring his country ready for serious nuclear talks. By now, Iran has about 20,000 centrifuges and the U.S. estimates the country is only a few months away from nuclear weapons capability.
September 2013 – Rouhani and Obama speak by telephone, the highest-level exchange between the two countries since Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif begin their diplomatic exchanges.
November 2013 – Iran and the six powers announce an interim agreement that temporarily curbs Tehran’s nuclear program and unfreezes some Iranian assets. The deal sets the stage for extended negotiations on a comprehensive nuclear accord.
July 2014 – Talks miss the deadline for a final pact. A four-month extension is agreed.
November 2014 – The final pact remains elusive. Talks are extended a further seven months.
April 2015 – A framework deal is announced, outlining long-term restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program and the removal of many international sanctions. Much remains unresolved, however.
July 14, 2015 – World powers and Iran announce long-term, comprehensive nuclear agreement.
Copyright 2015 Liberaland
By: dave-dr-gonzo
David Hirsch, a.k.a. Dave "Doctor" Gonzo*, is a renegade record producer, video producer, writer, reformed corporate shill, and still-registered lobbyist for non-one-percenter performing artists and musicians. He lives in a heavily fortified compound in one of Manhattan's less trendy neighborhoods.
* Hirsch is the third person to use the pseudonym, a not-so-veiled tribute to journalist and author Hunter S. Thompson, with the permission of his predecessors Gene Gaudette of American Politics Journal (currently webmaster and chief bottlewasher at Liberaland) and Stephen Meese at Smashmouth Politics.
9 responses to Iran Deal Details
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Obewon July 14th, 2015 at 09:06
Hip Hip Hooray! Big Oil GOP can’t invade and are very bummed today. Yipee!
Mike July 14th, 2015 at 11:52
Hopefully, you’re correct. However, we both know this congress will do everything in it’s power to blow this up. Fingers crossed, but I’m a realist…:(
Obewon July 14th, 2015 at 20:20
Remember Reagan’s Nuclear reduction treaties weren’t ratified by congress. Unlike POTUS Obama’s ratified 71 to 26 New Start Treaty: “On 22 December 2010, the U.S. Senate gave its advice and consent to ratification of the treaty, by a vote of 71 to 26 on the resolution of ratification.[40] Thirteen Republican senators, all 56 Democratic senators, and both Independent senators voted for the treaty.[41] President Obama signed documents completing the U.S. ratification process on 2 February 2011.[42]”-Via Wiki.
Senate ratifies new U.S.-Russia nuclear weapons treaty http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/21/AR2010122104371.html
John Tarter July 14th, 2015 at 13:43
Has Iran stopped enriching uranium? No. Will any of the Americans now in Iranian hands be released any time soon? A big no on that one too. Why we in the west continue to trust evil regimes is beyond me.
Obewon July 14th, 2015 at 20:14
Kämprəˈhen(t)SH(ə)n/: “Iran will reduce its current stockpile of low-enriched (<5%) uranium, which can be processed into bomb-grade (15%) fuel, by 98% to 300 kilograms (about 660 pounds) for 15 years.
B) Iran will reduce by two-thirds, to 5,060, the number of centrifuges operating to enrich uranium. Your functional and scientific illiteracy is laughable.
FASCandAL July 15th, 2015 at 05:52
C’mon man. They are very trustworthy actors on the national stage. They’ve never lied or blocked inspections before….right? And after all, look at the success Clinton had in the negotiations with North Korea and THEY don’t have a nuclear weapon, do they? Oh…that’s right. Never mind.
OldLefty July 15th, 2015 at 06:08
Based upon what?
All the previous agreements we have had with Iran?
When did North Korea, who tested in 2006, become Iran?
OldLefty July 15th, 2015 at 06:12
Iran , and every nation is allowed to enrich uranium.
But as for weapons… the way we HAVE been dealing with them for the past 35 years have not worked very well either.
If you think they are such an “evil regime”, (more than our great friends the Saudis???), why did you deliver Iraq into their loving arms?
Jimmy Fleck July 14th, 2015 at 13:51
What are the inspection/monitoring provisions? Do monitors have universal access to all sites at all times? Random inspections with no notice allowed? The terms look good, but if verification cannot take place with no delays by Iran then it won’t work. Also, how would we verify that they indeed reduce their current stockpile by the 98%? Do we have a good idea of how much uranium they have now? I really hope this works out in the end, but I am skeptical that Iran will live up to the agreement. Hopefully I am wrong.