Understanding Obama’s historic nuclear deal with Iran …
President Obama and Iran have mutually agreed in what is being considered a historic diplomatic deal, which benefits not only the two nations, but also the international community as a whole. On Thursday, April 2, Iran and six other world powers agreed on laying the groundwork for a final deal to control Iran's widely controversial nuclear program. However, the agreement is not yet set in stone, and as Iran's citizens rejoice, the historic deal is facing scrutiny from the U.S. congress and Iran's strongest critic -- Israel's Prime Minister, Bejamin Netanyahu.
There are many unknown details regarding the deal, but what is known, seems to point towards a peaceful nuclear future with Iran -- at least for the next 15 years. According to the information conveyed by U.S. officials, the following are seven crucial points which define the positive nature of the deal:
1. Uranium enrichment Iran will be allowed to enrich uranium, the natural material necessary for creating nuclear power and nuclear bombs, to only 3.67% -- a significant decline from 20% just last year. The 3.67% percentage is not enough to build a nuclear bomb, but just enough for civil use to power parts of the country. Iran has also agreed discontinue building uranium enrichment facilities, and is reducing its current 10,000 kilograms stockpile of low-enriched uranium to a staggering 300 kilograms. All three parts of this agreement are to last and will be enforced for the next 15 years.
2. Centrifuges Currently, Iran has a total of approximately 19,000 centrifuges --the tube-shaped machines used to enrich uranium -- 10,000 of those centrifuges remain spinning today. According to the deal, Iran will have to bring down the number of centrifuges from 19,000 down to 6,104, allowing only 5,060 to enrich uranium over a period of 10 years.
3. Fordow facility Fordow is one of Iran's largest nuclear reactor facilities, buried more than 200 feet under the side of a mountain and kept hidden from the international community until the U.S. revealed its existence in 2009. The agreement restricts Iran from having fissile material at the Fordow facility, and is being stopped from enriching uranium for at least 15 years -- but will be allowed to keep 1,000 centrifuges there. It is not clear if these centrifuges are part of the 5,060, which are allowed to enrich uranium.
4. Breakout time Breakout time is the time it takes for Iran to acquire the necessary material needed to construct one nuclear weapon. Currently, Iran's breakout time is estimated at two to three months -- the deal calls for Iran to extend their breakout time to a one-year period -- this deal is to last for 10 years.
5. Research and Development Iran is being allowed to continue its research and development on enriching uranium, however, it will be limited enough so that the it complies with the breakout time of one year. The U.S. officials have made it clear, that although Iran is required to make changes at their facilities, reduce centrifuges and discontinue the rebuilding of a heavy water reactor, they will be allowed to maintain all of its current facilities.
6. Inspections Iran will be firmly required to provide the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog, known as the International Atomic Energy Agency, the IAEA, access to all facilities to ensure there is no potential for military-related work. The IAEA's access would include a nuclear program related facility known as Parchin -- because of Iran's past secret nuclear work, these inspections, assumed unfettered, are crucial to the success of the deal.
7. Lifting Sanctions Part of the reason why Iran is most likely to adhere to this historic deal, and why it is to their advantage, is the lifting of sanctions from the United States and the European Union. Sanctions on Iran have been in place for over 35 years and have economically crippled the nation. After Iran confirms they have adhered to all of the details of the deal, and the IAEA completes its inspections verifying there are no violations, the sanctions will be lifted -- if after sanctions are lifted and Iran violates any part of the deal, the sanctions will be set back into place.
Though the deal sounds ideal, not everyone is celebrating in jubilation. Since Thursday's announcement by U.S. officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted no time strongly lashing out in disagreement. Netanyahu expressed his concerns, when on Friday he vehemently declared that there is no way Israel will accept a deal between Iran and world powers, "which allows a country that vows to annihilate us to develop nuclear weapons."
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Understanding Obama's historic nuclear deal with Iran ...