On April 2, the United States announced a preliminary framework plan to regulate Iran’s nuclear program for civic use and, ultimately, lift nuclear sanctions against the country.
The deal resulted from 18 months of negotiations in Lausanne, Switzerland between the six world powers of the nuclear task force, P5+1, the EU and Iran.
Later, the U.S. State Department released an outline of the plan, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including major parameters regarding Iran’s centrifuges, facilities, permissible level of enrichment and necessity for transparency.
According to the JCPOA, Iran is required to reduce its centrifuges from 19,000 (10,000 of which are active) to 6,104 under the deal. A CNN report explains that centrifuges are the cylindrical machines used for uranium enrichment, the cornerstone element for nuclear power and weaponry, and of Iran’s 6,104 residual machines, only 5,060 will remain operational for the next ten years.
In the JCPOA, Iran also agreed to a lower level of uranium enrichment, which is just enough to power parts of the country but well below weapon-making potencies—3.67 percent—for ten years. Their stockpile will also be reduced from 10,000 kg of low-enriched uranium to 300 kg.
While Iran will not be required to destroy any of its current nuclear facilities, major changes will be coming to its Natanz, Arak and Fordow facilities.
Iran’s uranium enrichment will be limited to the Natanz nuclear plant and its first generation IR-1 model centrifuges, eliminating the plant’s more advanced machines.
Moreover, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Arak heavy water reactor will no longer produce weapons-grade plutonium, and Fordow, Iran’s once secret, underground nuclear facility will be turned into a research center but with limitations.
Ultimately, the plan is hinged upon immense transparency.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have complete access to all of Iran’s facilities, including Natanz and Fordow, through physical inspection and “the use of the most up-to-date, modern monitoring technologies,” according to the JCPOA.
The finalized, comprehensive agreement, expected by June, will also contain “new transparency mechanisms” to monitor Iran’s supply chain and prevent any diversions to secret programs.
If Iran complies with these parameters and that compliance is confirmed by the IAEA, all U.S. and EU nuclear-related sanctions and all past UN Security Council nuclear-related resolutions will be lifted. Should Iran not comply, the sanctions will be restored.
While many from the Obama administration think the proposed framework is a greater success with more agreed-upon restrictions than previously expected, critics of the plan fear for the worst.
Of the most outspoken is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not included in any of the negotiations.
After the deal’s announcement, he warned that the plan “might very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East,” according to Politico.
“The cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal,” Netanyahu said in a statement, later adding that the final agreement must include “unambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel’s right to exist.”
Hope Houston
Intern