Iran Nuclear Deal: The Morning After

Thu Jul 16, 2015 12:24

Iran Nuclear Deal: The Morning After

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TEHRAN (FNA)- After 23 months, Iran and world powers finally capped a 13-year-long dispute by reaching a historic agreement for Tehran to curb parts of its civilian nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of sanctions and a recognition of its nuclear, specially enrichment, rights.

President Barack Obama claims the deal ensures that "every pathway to a nuclear weapon have been cut off." He also claims if Iran violates the terms of the agreement, sanctions will be snapped back into place. In his words, “The deal is not built on trust, it is built on verification."

Few points could be said about this deal which caps years of negotiations and decades of hemming and hawing about Iran’s nuclear program.

- The United States successfully managed to manufacture an unnecessary crisis and sell it to the international community as an imminent threat to international peace and security. Now the warmongers are taking credit for resolving Iran's nonexistent threat, which is not unexpected.

- Iran's sworn enemies like Israel and Saudi Arabia are wasting their time to claim this deal will embolden Iran. A rising Iran means greater peace and security for the region and beyond. Any doubters should ask Iraqi officials, who continue to maintain that in the absence of Iran's military support their country would have ceased to exist in face of ISIL’s last summer quests.

- This is a win-win deal for all sides if, of course, parties remain loyal to it. It is good for world peace and stability. How could ISIL be defeated except by Iran – the only country in the region that is really fighting against terrorism and extremism.

- The alternative was war. Both President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry bill the agreement as critical to averting broader conflict. The agreement, if it goes into effect, would mark a turning point in America’s relations with the world. It could reverse the momentum of fifteen years of constant warfare and put Washington on a path to peace.The Republican leadership and Israel are free to lobby Congress to kill the deal. Lest they forget, Obama says the deal guarantees America’ national security.

- As maintained by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, the wall of mistrust is thick, even with the deal in place: Israel is insisting they “won’t be bound” by the deal, and are talking up their willingness to attack Iran at any time going forward. US Secretary of Defense Ash Carter has followed this up with his own threat to attack Iran at any time. These threats are empty gesture And failure to those opposed to the deal on the grounds that it will get in the way of the war they’ve long sought.

Put simply, this deal is not perfect, but the US had no other choice as the sanctions - the harshest ever imposed on a world state all throughout the history - have failed to bring Iran to its knees and, as a matter of fact, backfired since they encouraged Iran to rely on its domestic capacity and capabilities. Military action was also no option, because the US would have attacked Iran long time ago had it seen the slightest possibility for victory or annihilation of Iran's nuclear capability.

Yet, there is still a long way to go before much hope could be pinned on this agreement, and before anyone could say the US government has finally decided to pursue an independent foreign policy.

After its approval in the form of a UN Security Council resolution next week, we should wait and see if it can survive a congressional voting. If not - as predicted by a majority of pundits and analysts - the White House should remember that an Obama-vetoed agreement would not be acceptable to Iran.

Still, the main question will be if the US would remain loyal to the deal in practice and comply with its undertakings properly all throughout the next, not 2 but, 10 years.

Only then one can say that Washington is no longer taking its marching orders from Tel Aviv or Riyadh, and that the Vienna accord is, in effect, its Declaration of Independence. For the time being, we have to buy that. However, as Obama keeps saying, this has to be based on “verification” and not trust.

With his Noble Peace Prize and legacy on the line, it is now time for Obama to verify just that and more. It's the morning after and the world is not for politics and gesturing.