With the Iran Deal, Winter is Coming

Alan Goldsmith, UANI Washington Outreach Advisor: The Iran nuclear deal’s recent two-year anniversary prompted numerous positive commentaries on the agreement’s accomplishments to date. However, as the Trump administration reviews US policy on Iran, it should remember that sunny though the present may seem, the deal’s long-term costs are many and heavy—and long outweigh the benefits. So, with respect to the Iran deal, we should brace ourselves, for winter is coming. The deal’s short-term positives are noteworthy. Iran has shipped out most of its stockpile of enriched uranium, is temporarily prohibited from enriching uranium to anywhere near weapons-grade levels, and redesigned its heavy-water Arak reactor so that it cannot make weapons-grade plutonium. Consequently, Iran’s “breakout time,” the period it would take Tehran to develop a nuclear weapon, has expanded from several months pre-deal to closer to a year.