Iranian Terms Prevailing In More Dangerous Nuclear Deal

(New York, N.Y.) — U.S. and European negotiators are reportedly close to agreeing to a nuclear deal that provides the Iranian regime with cash, shields its nuclear activities from meaningful oversight, and offers Russia a sanctions evasion hub.

The Biden administration should not agree to a shorter and weaker nuclear deal that meets Iranian demands for merely temporary restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for up to $1 trillion in sanctions relief for the regime by 2030. If non-nuclear sanctions are lifted, as reported, that would set a very troubling precedent that will hamper the ability of the U.S. to hold Tehran accountable for its other threatening behavior. All this goes above and beyond the sanctions relief given to Iran in 2015 in exchange for an agreement that is weaker today with the one year breakout timeline upon which the JCPOA was originally based irrecoverable.  

Iran will be permitted to operate a nearly unrestricted nuclear program in 2031, and then our options to prevent a nuclear Iran will be fewer and worse. In the meantime, Iran will grow richer and more powerful, and therefore more capable of destabilizing the Middle East. 

In addition, like the JCPOA, a new deal will still mandate that key restrictions on Iran expire soon. U.N. restrictions on Iran’s missile program expire next year, and the mechanism to “snap back” sanctions on Iran in the event of Iranian noncompliance with the deal expires in 2025. 

Rather than accepting a deal that’s lopsided in Iran’s favor, the Biden administration should refuse to sign any pact that does not meet these minimum, common-sense criteria:

• The international community must return to the principle of zero uranium enrichment or reprocessing in Iran.
• Iran must resolve all outstanding International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inquiries about its nuclear program—including the regime’s weapons-related activities—before any sanctions are lifted.
• Iran must end all its dangerous non-nuclear behavior—including hostage taking, targeting Americans, developing ballistic missiles, and practicing and sponsoring terrorism—in parallel to any nuclear agreement.
• U.S. policy should once again be conducted in a bipartisan manner and in partnership with Congress, and any nuclear agreement should be submitted to the U.S. Senate as a treaty for ratification.

To read United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI)’s resource The Iran Nuclear Deal: What’s Wrong With It And What Can We Do Now?, please click here. 

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