By Jenny Park
On March 3, 2015, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu, addressed Congress regarding the Iranian nuclear crisis. Netanyahu
called for Iran to completely abandon its nuclear program and for the US and
Europe to impose tougher sanctions against Iran. Subsequently, Republican
senators warned Iran that any international deal on the Iranian nuclear
program could be revoked when President Obama leaves the office. This strong
rhetoric attempts to undermine the current negotiations among Iran and the six
world powers, scheduled for preliminary agreement by the end of March and to be
finalized by the end of June.
Iran is a signatory to the Non-Proliferation
Treaty (NPT), which requires all signatory
states to use nuclear material, if any, only for peaceful purposes. As part of
this commitment, the signatory states must work with the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA), an independent branch of the UN that works to ensure that
states do not use nuclear material for military purposes. After a signatory
state implements safeguards and submits a declaration of the state’s nuclear
materials and facilities to the IAEA, the IAEA verifies its implementation and its continuing
compliance.
Iran’s nuclear
program became publicly known and an international concern in
2002. Iran secretly built a uranium enrichment plant, at which enriched uranium
could be used to make nuclear fuel as well as weapons. Although the IAEA was
allowed to inspect this premise, it was unable to confirm that Iran did not
develop nuclear weapons. World powers urged Iran to stop enriching uranium, but
when talks failed, the IAEA referred Iran to the UN Security Council for
failing to comply with the NPT. Subsequently, the UN Security Council adopted
six resolutions requiring Iran to stop enriching uranium, and sanctions by the
US and Europe followed. Notwithstanding these sanctions, the IAEA in 2011
claimed that Iran carried out activities related to developing nuclear weapons,
specifically at the Parchin military complex, which the IAEA was not permitted
to inspect. (BBC summarizes key nuclear sites in Iran.)
Consequently, international sanctions expanded to reach
Iran’s financial sector in 2012, including sanctions against Iranian oil
exports and banks. Although the IAEA was satisfied with Iran’s later explanation of its Parchin nuclear
activities, the IAEA’s latest
report continues to question Iran’s
overall past research and other nuclear activities, with Iran yet to clarify
issues with its nuclear program and yet to implement additional
safeguards.
Iran has suffered from these international
sanctions, which exacerbated Iran’s inflation
of about 45 percent. The loss of oil revenue, which accounted for half of the
government’s spending, and the inability to utilize the international banking
system caused Iran’s currency to lose more than half of its value compared to the US
dollar.
Currently, there are two
tracks of negotiations with Iran: first, between the IAEA and
Iran; and second, between Iran and the so-called P5+1, which is composed of
China, France, Russia, UK, US, and Germany. The P5+1 signed an interim deal in November 2013 that required Iran to “curb sensitive
nuclear activities” in exchange for relief from sanctions, valued between $6 and $7 billion. When the sanctions were lifted in January of last year,
inflation decreased to about 27 percent. The deadline to reach a
comprehensive solution was extended from July 2014 to July 2015, with a political agreement to be reached by late March
of this year.
This 2013 interim deal corresponded with President Obama
foreign policy. Obama telephoned with
Iran’s new President, Hassan Rouhani, in September 2013, in what is
considered to be a historic conversation as it was the first between the US and
the Iranian heads of state in more than 30 years. Despite the strong rhetoric by Netanyahu and Senate
Republicans against any international deal with Iran, President Obama and other
negotiating parties counter that such stance is unrealistic and unhelpful. The
rhetoric is unrealistic because Iran has the right to peaceful nuclear
development as a signatory state to the NPT, while it is unhelpful as Iran has
rolled back many of its nuclear programs during the interim period between 2013
and the present.
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