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One Ray of Hope - Iran Negotiations
By maudeaster on 2014-07-25 11:42:36
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TED 5 In this week of dreadful carnage - think Gaza, think
Ukraine - what a relief it is to have the US make a good decision about Iran! The US choice to send Israel $3 billion a year
in military aid and the Russian choice to send weapons into Ukraine have underlined the horrible human costs of supporting
military solutions rather than political negotiations. Three cheers for the Obama administration’s decision this past week to
support a 4 month extension of diplomatic talks with Iran! Benefits Already from Negotiations As Senator John Conyers
pointed out about extending the talks: “The temporary agreement reached last year has yielded real benefits for the US and
the broader world. The choice is whether we continue to build on this success or return to mutually destructive
confrontation.” As a result of negotiations to date, the International Atomic Energy Agency has regularly
erified that, in response to limited sanctions relief, Iran has:
Complied with its obligations to neutralize its stockpile of 20 percent enriched uranium;
Capped its stockpile of 5 percent enriched uranium;
Not installed advanced centrifuges;
Not installed or tested new components at its Arak reactor;
Submitted to far more frequent inspections of its facilities.
Don’t Let Congress Make Negotiations Harder by Imposing More Sanctions Congressman Keith Ellison pointed out,
“We are on the edge of a significant moment in the history of diplomacy. If negotiators need more time to reach a
comprehensive agreement, we should support them, not make it harder for them to do their jobs by passing more sanctions.”
Unfortunately a few Senators, among them McCain and Inhofe, are trying to undermine diplomacy by promoting legislation
imposing additional sanction — just the wrong direction. Let Our Senators Gillibrand and Schumer Know You Support
the Negotiations: lease sign letters to our NYS Senators asking them to support
diplomacy in 2 ways:
e Speak out publicly in favor of continuation of diplomacy with Iran and praise what the interim agreement has
accomplished.
¢ Oppose efforts to derail talks through new sanctions or unrealistic demands.
To achieve a permanent agreement, the US will need to exchange the end of sanctions for commitments from Iran to reduce
its nuclear program and expand future monitoring even further. The last thing we need is Congress ramping up sanctions
now and torpedoing the negotiating progress already made. The Bigger Picture Ryan Costello of the National Iranian
American Council placed the negotiations in a much ider and important context: “Neither side can
forget that this issue is about more than centrifuges. For Iran, it helps determine whether forces of moderation or
recalcitrance guide the country in a pivotal period for the region. For the U.S., it is clear that this will be a legacy issue for
President Obama. But it is also a litmus test for American diplomacy. After the George W. Bush administration demonstrated
the fallacy of relying wholly on force to achieve American objectives, a successful Iran nuclear deal would remind America
that peaceful alternatives are not just worth exploring, but capable of delivering major national security victories. This could
change how America approaches national security challenges well into the foreseeable future and ensure that
neoconservatism remains where it should be: the dustbin of history.” a a
