Thursday marks the one year anniversary of the Iran nuclear deal with China, Russia, Germany, France, Great Britain, and the United States. The deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), has been controversial since its inception. Critics say that the deal gives Iran far too much leeway to continue to pursue nuclear ambitions while at the same time financially rewarding a country that continues to sponsor terrorism. Kerry and his supporters say that Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon is effectively blocked and that other issues with the country were unconnected to that goal.
Kerry, currently in Paris to attend Bastille Day celebrations, said Thursday that the JCPOA has “made the world safer” and “lived up to its expectations” thus far. But, he acknowledged:
In the July 16 edition of THE WEEKLY STANDARD, Michael Makovsky, former Pentagon official in the George W. Bush administration and president and CEO of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs, details some of those “hiccups”:
- “In seven years, Iran can begin R&D and production of advanced centrifuges that are 25 times faster than existing ones. And within 14 years, all meaningful restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program fall away, freeing it to pursue a robust nuclear weapons capability, legally and legitimately. The JCPOA doesn’t cut off Iran’s pathway to nuclear weapons, but paves it.”
- “Iran has been allowed to self-inspect suspicious facilities, while reports on known facilities from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) remain woefully short on critical details, including how much uranium Iran is producing and stockpiling and how many centrifuges it is operating. Indeed, IAEA reports now provide less information than before by which to judge Iran’s nuclear program.”
- “An even more important result of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the effective legalization of Iran’s ballistic missile program.”
- “Another key dynamic of the JCPOA is Tehran’s redoubled radicalism…[Iranian president] Rouhani and his colleagues continue to demonstrate just how hardline they all are. Rouhani last week bragged that the JCPOA ‘was the cheapest way to achieve Iran’s goals and interests,’ including ‘liberating Palestine.'”
Makovsky concludes that as a result of the JCPOA, things “could get very messy and very dangerous,” a bad case of “hiccups” indeed. Makovsky’s whole piece is here.
