The seven-nation agreement aimed at halting Iran’s progress toward a nuclear arsenal has been criticized as merely delaying the inevitable, but that ignores the value of delay. Delay can buy valuable time to shape relationships and make better deals that might prevent the apparently inevitable from ever happening.
Ultimately, the success of the pact won’t be decided by those who negotiated it or the leaders of the countries they represented. It will be decided by the people of Iran, who have endured years of economic sanctions imposed on their repressive regime to reach this point.
It will be up to the Iranian people to let the ayatollahs who rule their country know in no uncertain terms that they don’t want an atomic bomb if it means going back to the shortages and deprivations the sanctions caused.
Some compare this moment with President Richard Nixon’s gamble to establish diplomatic relations with communist China in 1972. The comparison is not exact, but the potential for peace is as great. China today is more of an economic rival, albeit a ruthless one, than the military threat it was 40 years ago.
The Iran agreement now goes to Congress, which has 60 days to vote it up or down, but some lawmakers have already dismissed the pact out of hand. Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R., N.J.) said Iran needs to take back its vow to destroy Israel; Rep. Bill Flores (R., Texas) said sanctions should remain so long as Iran sponsors terrorist organizations.
President Obama addressed such concerns Tuesday, noting that independent U.S. sanctions related to Iran’s support for terrorism, its ballistic missile program, and its human rights abuses aren’t ending. “We will continue our unprecedented efforts to strengthen Israel’s security,” he said, adding that the U.S. partnership with Arab Gulf states to counter threats from Iran and Islamic State terrorists would also continue.
Obama isn’t being naive about the Iranians. Echoing President Ronald Reagan’s “trust, but verify” mantra, he said, “This deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification.” The agreement will give inspectors “24/7 access” to Iran’s declared nuclear facilities, nuclear supply chain, uranium mines and mills, and conversion and centrifuge manufacturing facilities.
The Union of Concerned Scientists noted some weaknesses in the agreement but said that if fully implemented, it “will significantly restrict Iran’s ability to produce fissile materials suitable for nuclear weapons for the next decade.” The only way to find out if that can happen is to put the agreement into action. Congress should give the document a full vetting but shouldn’t unduly stand in the way of a historic step toward peace.
— The Philadelphia Inquirer
