Opponents
of the Iran nuclear deal failed to secure (NYT) the
Senate votes needed for a disapproval resolution on Thursday, making it almost
certain that the agreement will go into effect without the use of a presidential
veto. The House of Representatives is slated to vote (WaPo) on procedural
motions on Friday. The agreement is slated to be formally adopted in October,
ninety days after it was endorsed by the UN Security Council. Earlier this week,
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khameini said the country would not hold further
negotiations (VOA) with the United
States beyond nuclear issues. Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif is
scheduled to visit (Reuters) Beijing next week to
discuss the Iran nuclear agreement and boost ties with China.
ANALYSIS
ANALYSIS
"But
since Iran negotiated on rather than gave up its nuclear program, it
demonstrated to major powers that it would not be bullied with military threats
and economic sanctions, Zarif and like-minded advocates of the deal argue. The
two-year-long nuclear negotiations undermined Iranophobia in many foreign
capitals as major powers learned they can—and, indeed, must—resolve their
differences with Iran via diplomatic channels rather than by
coercion," writes Farideh Farhi in this CFR Expert Roundup.
"Through
much of its existence, Iran’s nuclear program was an illicit one, subject to
sanctions and sabotage. The threat of military attack hovered over the program,
threatening its progress if not existence. The fact is that Iran required time
to develop a state-of-the-art infrastructure and dispose of its antiquated
devices. A deal that legalizes the program, shields
it from retribution and grants it a reliable procurement channel for obtaining
technologies from abroad is what Iran needed to construct an industrial nuclear
network. Before the JCPOA, Iran was the custodian of an embryonic nuclear
program that nearly all of the Western intelligence services were seeking to
derail. All that is now gone," writes CFR's Ray Takeyh in Politico.
"We
did not reach the nuclear deal in the expectation that Iran’s external policy
would change any time soon. But it does address the threat from Iran’s nuclear
program and may open the way to recognition by Iran that collaboration with its
neighbors is better than confrontation: Although we may not have the same
interests as Iran, we do face some common challenges, including the threat from
ISIL. We are confident that the agreement provides the foundation for resolving
the conflict on Iran’s nuclear program permanently," write David Cameron,
Francois Hollande, and Angela Merkel in the Washington Post.
