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The Daily Signal
The Rough Road
to Reaching a Deal With Iran
Peter Brookes
July 06, 2015
Funny how painfully sobering Monday mornings can be—for a whole host of
reasons—but especially after a long, holiday weekend such as
Independence Day.
For instance, over the Fourth of July break, there was word seeping out
from the Iran nuclear talks in Vienna—to anyone paying attention to
anything but friends, food and fireworks—that a deal was finally within
grasp of the parties.
Yes, finally.
By Monday morning, the tone had shifted significantly from sunshiny to
stormy with not only the possibility that the talks would blow through
the July 7th deadline, but which also included warnings that Washington
may walk away from the negotiating table.
The prospects for a deal by Tuesday look problematic.
News reports from Vienna indicate that there are still a number of
rough patches on the road to an agreement between Iran and the P5+1
(United States, France, Britain, Russia, China and Germany).
These include hot button issues such as pace and scope of sanctions
relief for Iran, the allowable scope of research and development for
Tehran’s nuclear program, the depth and breadth of any inspection and
verification regime, and questions about Iran’s prior work on a nuclear
warhead, among others.
To complicate matters further, Iran is pushing for punitive economic
sanctions to be lifted on their ballistic missile program in addition
to the sanctions placed on Tehran due to its nuclear transgressions.
As if that isn’t enough, Tehran is asking for an end to the weapons
embargo put on Iran, which is deeply troubling considering its support
for the terrorist group, Hezbollah, the Syrian regime and its regional
aspirations.
If the talks do not reach an agreement by Tuesday, current legislation
requires that Congress get not a 30-day look at the deal, but 60 days
instead for briefings and hearings before the pact can be implemented
by the administration.
Of course, getting a nuclear deal with Iran doesn’t address the
plentitude of other problems we have with Tehran including its Middle
East meddling and staunch support for international terrorism.
There’s good reason to be alarmed that the deal we’ll get in Vienna
will be a bad deal, especially if the United States and its partners
cave to Iran to close the deal.
Read this and other articles with links at The Daily Signal
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