Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.) will support the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, he announced Thursday.
“I believe that supporting the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated between Iran and the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China is the best option for advancing the goal of keeping Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” the senator said in a statement.
Rep. Jan Schakowsky, Rep. Lloyd Doggett and Rep. David Price
Writing exclusively for Haaretz, three members of Congress explain why the nuclear deal with Iran is good for America – and Israel.
The relationship between the United States and Israel is built on a foundation of common interests and common values, and it has been strengthened over the decades by our resolve in the face of common threats — from Soviet interventionism in the Middle East during the Cold War to the spread of violent extremism today.
There is no question that Americans from across the political spectrum view Iran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon as a common threat of the highest order. Nor do we doubt that the special relationship between Americans and Israelis will withstand the current debate over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action negotiated between the “P5+1” international partners and Iran, as it has withstood previous policy debates.
While the attention inside the U.S. on the proposed Iran nuclear deal has been on its weapons capability, there is another story. As part of the deal, Tehran will get relief from international sanctions, which could lead to a resurgence in its economy.
Country hit hard by years of sanctions could see foreign investment flood in if historic Vienna agreement clears hurdles
European firms are racing to secure business opportunities in Iran after the UN security council adopted a landmark nuclear deal, paving the way for sanctions to be lifted later this year.
The 15-member body unanimously voted in favour of the Vienna agreement to lift restrictions on Iran in exchange for Tehran rolling back its nuclear programme. The vote on Monday marked the beginning of the end of the sanctions regime that has taken a heavy toll on the country’s economy.
By Steve LeVine
Hopeful officials in the Obama administration are circulating (paywall) a description of a potential nuclear deal with Iran, suggesting a chance of success after 11 years of talks in one form or another. To follow what happens next, it’s necessary to understand one basic fact—the calendar favors the Western side, and seriously disadvantages Iran.
In an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy, a top Iranian official says that Khomeini personally stopped him from building Iran’s WMD program.
By Gareth Porter
The nuclear negotiations between six world powers and Iran, which are now nearing their November deadline, remain deadlocked over U.S. demands that Iran dismantle the bulk of its capacity to enrich uranium. The demand is based on the suspicion that Iran has worked secretly to develop nuclear weapons in the past and can’t be trusted not to do so again.
Iran argues that it has rejected nuclear weapons as incompatible with Islam and cites a fatwa of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as proof. American and European officials remain skeptical, however, that the issue is really governed by Shiite Islamic principles. They have relied instead on murky intelligence that has never been confirmed about an alleged covert Iranian nuclear weapons program.
But the key to understanding Iran’s policy toward nuclear weapons lies in a historical episode during its eight-year war with Iraq. The story, told in full for the first time here, explains why Iran never retaliated against Iraq’s chemical weapons attacks on Iranian troops and civilians, which killed 20,000 Iranians and severely injured 100,000 more. And it strongly suggests that the Iranian leadership’s aversion to developing chemical and nuclear weapons is deep-rooted and sincere.
A few Iranian sources have previously pointed to a fatwa by the Islamic Republic’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, prohibiting chemical weapons as the explanation for why Iran did not deploy these weapons during the war with Iraq. But no details have ever been made public on when and how Khomeini issued such a fatwa, so it has been ignored for decades.
By: Roger Cohen 2 Oct. 2014 NYT
LONDON — Breakfast last week in New York with President Hassan Rouhani of Iran was a cordial affair, bereft of the fireworks of his predecessor, whose antics made headlines and not much more. Rouhani, flanked by his twinkly-eyed foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was composed, lucid and, on the whole, conciliatory. He said a nuclear accord was doable by the deadline of Nov. 24 “if there is good will and seriousness.” He revealed that he had spoken last year with President Obama about “a number” of possible areas of collaboration in the event of an accord. He did not underplay the difficulties, or the implacability of a deal’s opponents in Iran and the United States, but suggested the “short-lived dustbowl” thrown up by any resolution would dissipate as win-win awareness grew. He even alluded to the aroma of roses. It was a polished performance full of the subtleties intrinsic to the Iranian mind. The question, as always with Iran, is what precisely it meant.
The directors’ campaign is believed to be backed by Iran’s foreign ministry
Six prominent Iranian filmmakers have launched a campaign urging world powers to agree a permanent solution to the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.
The directors – including Abbas Kiarostami and Asghar Farhadi, who won Iran’s first Oscar in 2012 – say “there is no deal that is worse than no deal”.
US secretary of state says negotiations taking place ‘in good faith’ though formula for a deal is elusive at the moment.
John Kerry, the US secretary of state, in Vienna where he has been negotiating with Iran about its nuclear capacity. Photograph: Heinz-Peter Bader/REUTERS
The top diplomats from the US and Iran have hailed the progress made so far at nuclear talks in Vienna but say more time may be needed to close the remaining gaps between the sides.
The US secretary of state, John Kerry, said on Tuesday that there had been tangible progress after two days of face-to-face negotiations with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif.
By Parisa Hafezi and Fredrik Dahl
(Reuters) – Iran said it hopes enough progress will be made with major powers this week to enable negotiators to start drafting by mid-May a final accord to settle a long-running dispute over its nuclear program.
The Islamic Republic and six world powers will hold a new round of talks in Vienna on Tuesday and Wednesday intended to reach a comprehensive agreement by July 20 on how to resolve a decade-old standoff that has stirred fears of a Middle East war.
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