Tag: nuclear

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ThinkProgress Explains The Iran Nuclear Deal Via Legos

Igor Volsky of ThinkProgress explains the 109 page Iran nuclear deal in 60 seconds using legos.

Under the proposal, the Persian nation must limit its stockpiles of uranium and plutonium in order to secure sanction relief from the west.

IGOR VOLSKY: This wall of legos represents the sanctions that separate Iran from the Western world.

The West has long suspected that Iran is pursuing nuclear weapons. Now, Iran denies this, but it continues to acquire the nuclear materials necessary for a bomb. As a result, the West continues the sanctions.

This has isolated Iran and pushed it to the negotiation table.

Under the agreed-upon terms, Iran must dramatically reduce its nuclear materials, making it much more difficult to acquire a bomb. It will also have to allow international inspectors in to ensure that it’s keeping its word. Then, the sanction wall will begin to crumble.

If Iran violates the agreement, the inspectors will alert the west and they will build the sanction wall right back up.

Now, critics argue that an empowered Iran could destabilize the Middle East and fund terror groups. The world, including the United States, will certainly have to come up with a policy to counteract any nefarious activities, but at least those threats won’t carry nuclear weapons.

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U.S. Senate Votes 98-1 To Give Congress A Say Over Emerging Nuclear Iran Deal

The U.S. Senate voted overwhelmingly to pass a bill intended to give Congress a say in the emerging nuclear deal between Iran, the U.S. and its five negotiating partners.

The final vote was 98 to 1, with Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) as the lone no-show and junior Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) casting the only dissenting vote.

More at Huffington Post.

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White House Announces Framework For Nuclear Agreement With Iran

President Obama took to the White House Rose Garden to announce a preliminary framework for a nuclear arms deal with Iran had been reached.

“I am convinced that if this framework leads to a final, comprehensive deal, it will make our country, our allies and our world safer,” he said. “This has been a long time coming.”

The actual framework will be announced in the next few days, although the details of the agreement will be hammered out over the next couple of months.

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Newspapers Across America Condemn Iran Letter From 47 US Senators

Republican Sens. Ted Cruz and Mitch McConnell

Newspapers across the country continue to condemn the open letter signed by 47 Republican U.S. Senators to the leaders of Iran meant to sabotage current ongoing sensitive negotiations regarding nuclear weapons.

Just a few samples from at least 22 so far:

The Kansas City Star wondered if it was the Iran letter, or the Republican senators who were treacherous, “Given the Republicans’ pure hatred of Obama, it also seemed extra personal, yet another politically motivated attempt to stop him from doing anything that might be perceived as a victory for his administration.”

The editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post Gazette wrote that the senators who signed the letter should be ashamed, “America’s partners in the talks are among the world’s most important nations — China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. They can only be appalled at seeing Secretary of State John Kerry and the president, who are charged with making the nation’s foreign policy, hit from behind by one house of the federal legislature. The senators who signed the letter should be ashamed.”

The Baltimore Sun pulled no punches, “The poison pen note was a shocking example of just how far President Barack Obama’s GOP critics in Congress are willing to go in an effort to undercut his foreign policy goals…The GOP senators might just as well have put up a big sign over their chamber warning the mullahs in Tehran to prepare for war because that’s the practical import of rejecting any possibility of a negotiated resolution of the two countries’ differences.

More at PoliticusUSA.

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Iran agrees to halt nuclear program

After much negotiation, the United States, France, Germany, China, Russia, Great Britain, and the European Union have come to an agreement with Iran to freeze its nuclear program.

From New York Times:

The United States and five other world powers announced a landmark accord Sunday morning that would temporarily freeze Iran’s nuclear program and lay the foundation for a more sweeping agreement. It was the first time in nearly a decade of talks, American officials said, that an international agreement had been reached to halt much of Iran’s nuclear program and roll some elements of it back.

According to the agreement, Iran would agree to stop enriching uranium beyond 5 percent. To make good on that pledge, Iran would dismantle links between networks of centrifuges. All of Iran’s stockpile of uranium that has been enriched to 20 percent, a short hop to weapons-grade fuel, would be diluted or converted into oxide so that it could not be readily used for military purposes. No new centrifuges, neither old models nor newer more efficient ones, could be installed.

Centrifuges that have been installed but which are not currently operating could not be started up. The agreement, however, would not require Iran to stop enriching uranium to a level of 3.5 percent or dismantle any of its existing centrifuges. The accord was a disappointment for Israel, which urged the United States to pursue a stronger agreement that would lead to a complete end to Iran’s enrichment program. But Iran made it clear that continuing enrichment was a prerequisite for any agreement.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been tweeting up a storm about his displeasure over the agreement.

However, global oil prices dropped in early trading Monday, as markets gave a cautious welcome to the weekend’s nuclear deal.