On April 2, the United States announced a preliminary framework plan to regulate Iran\u2019s nuclear program for civic use and, ultimately, lift nuclear sanctions against the country.
\nThe 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.
\n
\nLater, the U.S. State Department released an outline of the plan, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), including major parameters regarding Iran\u2019s centrifuges, facilities, permissible level of enrichment and necessity for transparency.
\nAccording 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\u2019s 6,104 residual machines, only 5,060 will remain operational for the next ten years.
\nIn 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\u20143.67 percent\u2014for ten years. Their stockpile will also be reduced from 10,000 kg of low-enriched uranium to 300 kg.
\nWhile 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.
\nIran\u2019s uranium enrichment will be limited to the Natanz nuclear plant and its first generation IR-1 model centrifuges, eliminating the plant\u2019s more advanced machines.
\nMoreover, according to the Wall Street Journal, the Arak heavy water reactor will no longer produce weapons-grade plutonium, and Fordow, Iran\u2019s once secret, underground nuclear facility will be turned into a research center but with limitations.
\nUltimately, the plan is hinged upon immense transparency.
\nThe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will have complete access to all of Iran\u2019s facilities, including Natanz and Fordow, through physical inspection and \u201cthe use of the most up-to-date, modern monitoring technologies,\u201d according to the JCPOA.
\nThe finalized, comprehensive agreement, expected by June, will also contain \u201cnew transparency mechanisms\u201d to monitor Iran\u2019s supply chain and prevent any diversions to secret programs.
\nIf 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.
\nWhile 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.
\nOf the most outspoken is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was not included in any of the negotiations.
\nAfter the deal\u2019s announcement, he warned that the plan \u201cmight very well spark a nuclear arms race throughout the Middle East,\u201d according to Politico.
\n\u201cThe cabinet is united in strongly opposing the proposed deal,\u201d Netanyahu said in a statement, later adding that the final agreement must include \u201cunambiguous Iranian recognition of Israel\u2019s right to exist.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hope Houston On April 2, the United States announced a preliminary framework plan to regulate Iran\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5782,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[2076],"class_list":["post-11630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tartan-news","tag-hope-houston"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5s3vR-31A","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5782"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11630"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11630\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11631,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11630\/revisions\/11631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sinclairclarion.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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