An agreement was reached recently, following 8-day talks in Switzerland, over Iran’s nuclear program by world powers. The nuclear deal calls for the lifting of economic sanctions, while Iran is required to limit its enrichment capacity as well as its total cache of uranium. Pleased with the new agreement, Iran must also agree to do what they were doing all along and… not produce nuclear weapons.
This agreement will be used as a basis for further nuclear talks with Iran, which are anticipated to finish by June 30th.
The US and EU will agree to lift sanctions on Iran as long as the IAEA is able to verify that Iran has limited its enrichment capacity and stockpile before the June 30th deadline, according to the wording of the current deal.
If this is adhered to, the next deal is expected to be signed by all parties involved. The US and EU will then lift all nuclear-related sanctions currently placed on Iran. Below we have the reaction of the major parties involved:
Big day: #EU, P5+1, and #Iran now have parameters to resolve major issues on nuclear program. Back to work soon on a final deal.
— John Kerry (@JohnKerry) April 2, 2015
Solutions on key parameters of Iran #nuclear case reached. Drafting to start immediately, to finish by June 30th. #IranTalks — Hassan Rouhani (@HassanRouhani) April 2, 2015
The concessions offered to Iran in Lausanne would ensure a bad deal that would endanger Israel, the Middle East and the peace of the world
— בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) April 1, 2015
Americans and our allies are right to be wary of a nuclear deal w/ Iran that is riddled with concessions by the Obama Administration. — Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) April 2, 2015
In summary: John Kerry thinks he got a good deal, Netanyahu is angry about something, Hassan Rouhani seems absolutely ecstatic(not really) and Rick Perry continues to cater to the Israel lobby.
Interesting that Iran’s sanctions are being lifted because it is being made to do something that it was already doing, for all intents and purposes. Wondering why Iran was sanctioned to begin with? Turns out it was sanctioned for way more than nuclear enrichment, and for a far longer period of time than most people care to remember.
From Wikipedia (to those of you who hate referencing Wikipedia, do remember that it is the only source of information that follows the Anonymous framework… To a degree):
In 1979, after the U.S. permitted the exiled Shah of Iran to enter the United States for medical treatment, a group of radical students took action in Tehran by seizing the American Embassy and taking hostage the people inside.[1] The United States responded and PresidentCarter issued Executive Order 12170 in November 1979 freezing about $12 billion in Iranian assets, including bank deposits, gold and other properties. Some assets — Iranian officials say $10 billion, U.S. officials say much less — still remain frozen pending resolution of legal claims arising from the revolution.
After the invasion of Iran by Iraq, the United States increased sanctions against Iran. In 1984, sanctions were approved that prohibit weapons sales and all U.S. assistance to Iran. The United States also opposed all loans to Iran from international financial institutions. In October 1987, President Ronald Reagan issued Executive Order12613 prohibiting the importation and exportation of any goods or services from Iran.
Also, here’s more about the Shah:
During Mohammad Reza’s reign, the Iranian oil industry was briefly nationalized under the democratically elected Prime MinisterMohammad Mosaddegh before a U.S. and UK-backed coup d’état deposed Mosaddegh and brought back foreign oil firms.
Basically, Iran rid itself of the US-backed dictator/king known as the Shah. The Shah had seized power from a previously democratic Iran. A bunch of students decided to capture the US embassy, because America was after all the puppet-master, and the US decided to assuage its guilt by imposing the first round of sanctions. At that point, the Iranian clergy decided to take over.
After Saddam Hussein (remember that dude that was destroyed because the US thought he might be hiding nukes, but really wasn’t?) attacked Iran with the US’s backing (it had helped Iraq obtain the chemicals required to produce the only real WMDs that were found there), and Iran still decided to do whatever they were doing(nothing), the US decided to up the sanctions, intending to starve these miscreants who would not embrace the glory of a US-backed puppet.
This led it to form closer ties with its only allies who were willing to trade with it, rather than sanction it and aid its enemies deploy chemical weapons against it, Russia and China. Then there were the nuclear-related sanctions, that started getting imposed in more recent memory. The US, seeing that its sanctions has done nothing, is forced to admit defeat and hopefully draw Iran back to the fold and move away from its old allies.
The constant neo-con rambling about Iranian nukes would thus be used as an excuse to lift the nuclear sanctions, though whether they would eventually come to encompass the original sanctions is unknown.
