Iran
Deal
The
Can an agreement with
Iran stop it from building
nuclear weapons?
12
JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / May 11, 2015
L
ast month, the U.S. and five other countries
agreed on the outline of a deal with Iran that
could prove historic. Iran has agreed to limit
its nuclear power program, which the West fears
is being used to develop nuclear
arms. In exchange, the U.S. and
its allies will lift sanctions that
have crippled Iran’s economy.
The negotiations lasted two
Obama
years. They were very difficult
and often came close to breaking
down. All along, Iran has insisted
that it is interested only in peaceful uses of nuclear power, mainly
Rouhani
to produce electricity.
Even with an initial deal in hand, negotiators have a lot of tough issues to hammer out by
June 30. That is the deadline for a final accord.
There is also deep suspicion on both sides that
could kill the agreement.
Here are five questions about what President
Barack Obama calls “our best bet by far to make
sure that Iran doesn’t get a nuclear weapon.”
Luojie/China Daily News/Political Cartoons (Iran deal cartoon); Mike Theiler/Reuters (Obama); ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images (Rouhani)
international
1
Vahid Reza Alaei/Iranian Defense Ministry/AP photo (rocket); POOL New/Reuters (diplomat meeting)
Why is the world
worried about Iran
getting an atom bomb?
In addition to the U.S., many
nations in the Middle East and
Europe see Iran as extremely dangerous. Since Iran’s 1979 Islamic
Revolution, its leaders have put
down the U.S. as “the Great Satan”
and called for its downfall.
Iran’s government is controlled
by hardline Shia Muslim
religious leaders. It has
been a major cause of
problems in the Middle
East. Iran sponsors such
groups as Hezbollah in
Lebanon and Hamas in
Gaza. The U.S. considers
both groups to be
terrorist organizations.
Israel is one of
America’s closest allies
in the Middle East. It sees Iran as
a threat to its very existence. Last
November, Iran’s Supreme Leader
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called for
Israel to be “annihilated.”
U.S. officials also fear the spread
of nuclear weapons through the
region, says Abbas Milani of Stanford University in California. They
think that “if Iran gets the bomb,
then neighbors like Saudi Arabia,
Turkey, and possibly Egypt will
too,” Milani tells JS. “Then you will
have an arms race.” Saudi Arabia is
a U.S. ally and longtime foe of Iran.
It says it may get nuclear arms if
Iran has them.
2
What does the
agreement say?
Experts say that both sides in
the negotiations made major compromises to achieve the outline
agreement.
What Iran agreed to: Iran will
Above: Iran already has long-range
missiles. Many people fear what it could do
with nuclear weapons. Left: U.S. and
Iranian diplomats meet in March.
3
Will a final deal keep
Iran from building
a bomb?
limit its nuclear efforts so that
it has enough power and equipment to generate electricity but not
enough to make a weapon. Iran
has also agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic
Energy Agency (IAEA) to inspect
all of its nuclear sites.
What the West agreed to: The
crippling sanctions passed by the
U.S., the United Nations, and the
European Union will be lifted.
These economic punishments have
cut Iran off from international
trade. They also kept it from selling its oil, which cost the country
billions each year in lost income.
Ordinary Iranians suffer most
from the restrictions. They elected
President Hassan Rouhani in 2013
on the promise that he would try
to get sanctions lifted. But exactly
when the sanctions will be lifted is
one of the trickiest points that still
need to be worked out.
This is the key question and a
subject of intense debate. People
who favor the agreement say that a
deal would make it harder for Iran
to build a bomb.
Nuclear reactors (devices that
control nuclear energy) use fuel
that is made from uranium. The
process of making that fuel is
called enrichment. Only a small
level of enrichment is needed to
make fuel for a nuclear reactor
that produces electricity. A much
higher level of enrichment is
needed to make a nuclear bomb.
Iran will still be allowed to
enrich some uranium. But it also
promises to drastically reduce its
stockpile of enriched uranium and
cut its total number of enrichment
devices by two thirds. Also, one of
Iran’s main enrichment plants will
be changed into a research facility.
U.S. officials say that with these
limits and IAEA inspections, it
continued on p. 14
May 11, 2015 / JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC
13
who has repeatedly voiced
suspicion of U.S. intentions.
Congress also wants to have its
say. As JS went to press, lawmakers
were debating a bill that would
require a vote on the agreement.
Experts say there is a small chance
that Congress could kill the deal.
O
n November 4, 1979, a mob seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. It took
66 Americans hostage, and held 52 of them captive for more than a year.
Americans watched in distress as the embassy’s employees were paraded
before cameras like criminals (above). For months, U.S. President Jimmy Carter
was unable to get the hostages released. They were finally set free in January 1981.
Yet the U.S. and Iran had long been allies. Under Shah (king) Pahlavi, Iran had
become a modern, Westernized nation. But the Shah’s secret police brutally cracked
down on people who disagreed with him. That included conservative Shia Muslim
leaders who resisted social reforms. Many Iranians grew to resent the U.S., which
had helped overthrow Iran’s prime minister in favor of the Shah in 1953. In January
1979, a movement that became the Islamic Revolution forced the Shah to flee Iran.
A strict Islamic government took charge. Fierce anti-American feeling led to the
seizure of the embassy, an event that has poisoned U.S.-Iran relations ever since.
would take Iran a full year to build
a single bomb. Officials who favor
the deal say that if Iran tried to
cheat, this time frame would give
the U.S. and its allies time to seek
a solution. They could even take
military action.
Are these safeguards enough?
Critics of the agreement insist that
Iran still can’t be trusted. “A deal
based on this framework would
threaten the survival of Israel,”
warns Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu of Israel, one of those
critics. Other U.S. allies in the
region, including Saudi Arabia,
also oppose the deal. At home,
members of Congress from both
parties have spoken out against it.
But Obama has defended the
program of inspections as the
strongest in history. “If Iran cheats,
the world will know it,” he says.
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4
Is a final agreement
likely?
A final accord could still fall
through. Getting all parties to agree
on all the details by June 30 will be
very difficult.
One of the toughest issues is
deciding when the sanctions will
be lifted. Ayatollah Khamenei has
said that they must end on the
day a final agreement is signed.
Western negotiators like U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry say that
sanctions will be eased gradually,
as Iran meets certain goals. U.S.
officials also say that sanctions
could “snap back” if Iran cheats.
Even if a deal is reached by
June 30, both President Rouhani
and President Obama will have
to overcome opposition at home.
Rouhani will need to get the
approval of Ayatollah Khamenei,
JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC / May 11, 2015
The U.S. and Iran have been at
odds since Iran’s 1979 revolution
put the country under strict Islamic
rule. That November, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in
Tehran, the country’s capital. They
held 52 Americans hostage for 444
days (see “Iran and the U.S.”).
Despite that strained history,
many ordinary Iranians would
like their country to have a better
relationship with the U.S. On his
first day in office in 2009, President Obama told Iran that the U.S.
would “extend a hand if you’re
willing to unclench your fist.”
Milani believes that Obama’s
offer was part of the reason the
negotiations came about. He also
says that the Iranian people have
a lot at stake in reaching a deal.
“Iranians want to join the international community,” he says. “They
are overwhelmingly in favor of
normalized relations with the U.S.”
An agreement would bring
“a major change in U.S.-Iran
relations,” Milani says. It could also
allow cooperation on issues like the
battle against ISIS in Iraq and Syria.
“It’s hard to exaggerate what a
big deal this is,” says Gary Sick, an
Iran expert at Columbia University
in New York City. “We’re talking
about a real transformation of U.S.
policy in the region.”
—Bryan Brown
page 14: MINGAM ALAIN/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images (hostage); page 15: jim mcmahon/mapman™ (map)
5
Iran and the U.S.
What could a deal mean
for U.S.-Iran ties?
mapsearch
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SOURCE: INTERNATIONAL ATOMIC ENERGY AGENCY
YEMEN
Questions
1.What is the capital of Iran?
2.Iran’s capital sits at the foot of what mountain
range?
3.What river forms Iran’s border with
Azerbaijan?
4.What countries border Iran on the east?
5.Near which cities on the map are the five
nuclear facilities located?
6.The nuclear plant at Arak lies near which
longitude line?
7.Which city is located at 27ºN, 56ºE?
8.A ship traveling from the Arabian Sea to
the country of Kuwait would pass through
which waterways?
9.What island nation lies in the Persian Gulf?
10. What is the source for this map?
May 11, 2015 / JUNIOR SCHOLASTIC
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