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Iran Tries to Sell Nuclear Deal
Iranian officials involved in the nuclear negotiations are trying to sell the final deal at home, particularly to lawmakers. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif framed the agreement as a win for Iran during his remarks to parliament on July 21. “For 12 years, great powers have tried to prevent an…
UN Security Council Endorses Iran Deal
On July 20, the U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 2231, endorsing the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which will take effect 90 days after the council's endorsement. The resolution will expire ten years after adoption, and the council will “remove the Iranian nuclear…
NPR: Robin Wright on the Nuclear Deal
Robin Wright, a senior fellow at the U.S. Institute of Peace and the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, analyzed the nuclear deal and discussed her recent trip to Iran on NPR’s “On Point” with Tom Ashbrook. The following interview was broadcast on July 21.
Report: Who Has Authority to Lift US Sanctions on Iran
A new Congressional Research Service report by Dianne Rennack lays out the legislative basis for sanctions on Iran, as well as the authority of Congress and the President to waive or lift sanctions. The ability to impose and remove sanctions with “some nimbleness and responsiveness to changing…
Tehran’s Promise
Robin Wright (for The New Yorker)Iran’s revolutionaries are aging. Most are in their late fifties, sixties, or seventies. The Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, turned seventy-six this month. More than sixty per cent of Iran’s eighty million people are under the age of thirty-five. A baby-boom…
Nuclear Deal: Proxy for Larger Debate
The final nuclear deal is a “proxy for a more fundamental debate” in both Iran and the United States, according to Robert Litwak in the latest edition of the Wilson Center’s Viewpoints series. For Tehran, it is about identity and relations with the international community. For Washington, it raises…
Khamenei: Deal Won’t Change Policy on US
On July 18, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei expressed support for the nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s major powers. “The result of a 10, 12-year struggle with the Islamic Republic is that they have been forced to tolerate the operation of several thousand centrifuges in the country…
US Military Officials on Iran
Iran is among the top four state actors who pose challenges to U.S. security, according to President Obama’s nominees for chairman and vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “I would put the threats to this nation in the following order: Russia, China, Iran, North Korea and all of the…
Javad Zarif on Iran’s Post-Deal Future
Robin Wright (for The New Yorker)The long slog of diplomacy with Iran—a pariah nation since its 1979 revolution—was always about more than the bomb. It was about the return of the world’s eighteenth-largest country—and its vast military, population, and consumer base—at a time when the Middle East…
The Final Deal: Obama Speaks to the Press
The following is a transcript of a press conference that President Obama held on July 15, focusing on the final nuclear deal with Iran. OBAMA: The comprehensive long-term deal that we achieved with our allies and partners to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon represents a powerful…
The Final Deal: Iranians Celebrate
In Iran, celebrations broke out in the streets immediately following the announcement of the final nuclear deal on July 14.Northern Tehran celebrates #IranDeal As I witnessed people were jubilant & vibrant pic.twitter.com/qHYlNTKkCJ— Sobhan Hassanvand (@Hassanvand) July 14, 2015 ونک قطعن الان…
The Final Deal: Tehran Reacts
The following are excerpted remarks from Iranian officials on the final nuclear deal between Iran and the world's six major powers.Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei #Iran’s Leader replies president’s letter on nuclear issue: I’d like to extend my gratitude to the negotiating team.— Khamenei.ir…
The Final Deal: Khamenei Letter to Rouhani
On July 15, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a letter to President Hassan Rouhani expressing gratitude to the negotiating team, one day after Iran and the world's six major powers agreed on a final nuclear deal. But he cautioned that "some" nations involved in the talks are "not…
The Final Deal: The Region Reacts
The announcement of a final nuclear deal drew strong reactions from the Middle East. Some nations, like Turkey and Iraq, welcomed the deal. But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been an outspoken critic of the talks, called the deal “a stunning historic mistake.” Meanwhile, the…
The Final Deal: Congress Reacts
The announcement of a final nuclear deal on July 14 prompted mixed reactions from members of Congress. House Speaker John Boehnor (R-OH) said, "if in fact it’s as bad a deal as I think it is at this moment, we’ll do everything we can to stop it.” Senate minority whip Richard Durbin (D-IL), however…
Iran and UN Watchdog Agree on Roadmap
On July 14, International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Yukiya Amano and Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Ali Akbar Salehi agreed on a road map to resolve “past and present outstanding issues” on Iran’s nuclear program. Amano said the road map laid out a plan for the next several…
An Iran Deal, At Last
Robin Wright (for The New Yorker)After nineteen days of marathon negotiations and four missed deadlines, Iran and the world’s six major powers announced a nuclear deal in Vienna this morning. The exhaustive and elusive diplomacy—sustained by an unsettling combination of Twizzlers, gelato, string…
The Final Deal: White House Background Briefing
On July 14, senior administration officials held a background conference call to discuss the final nuclear agreement with Iran. The following are excerpts from the transcript.SENIOR ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: I’m going to start and then turn it over to my colleague to sort of walk you through at…
The Final Deal: White House Infographics
After the announcement of a final nuclear deal between Iran and the world's six major powers on July 14, the White House published the following text and series of infographics describing "how the U.S. and the international community will block all of Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon." After…
The Final Deal: Kerry Statement
On July 14, Secretary of State John Kerry said that parameters from the Lausanne framework “have been amplified in ways that make this [final] agreement even stronger.” The following is a transcript of his remarks in Vienna shortly after the final deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers…
The Final Deal: Rouhani Statement
On July 14, President Hassan Rouhani welcomed the nuclear deal as a "victory" for Iran in a televised address. A dubbed video by Press TV is below, followed by excerpted remarks posted on his Twitter account. Many people prayed for the #negotiating team during the holy month of Ramadan; I'm…
The Final Deal: Obama Statement
On July 14, President Barack Obama welcomed the agreement on Iran’s nuclear program in a televised address. The following is a transcript. Today, after two years of negotiations, the United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not…
The Final Deal: Full Text
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action Vienna, 14 July 2015 PREFACE The E3/EU+3 (China, France, Germany, the Russian Federation, the United Kingdom and the United States, with the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy) and the Islamic Republic of Iran…
The Final Deal: Zarif, Mogherini Statement
On July 14, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini announced that Iran and the world's six major powers - Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia, and the United States - had reached a final nuclear agreement. The following is a transcript of…
Iranian Front Pages on Nuclear Deal
On July 13 and 14, the front pages of Iranian newspapers reflected widespread anticipation of a nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers. Reports from the Vienna talks suggested a deal could be announced within a day. Conservative papers framed the agreement as a potential…
Twitter Craze: #NeverThreatenAnIranian
Talks became heated as foreign ministers from Iran and the world's six major powers met in Vienna to push towards a final nuclear deal. After E.U. foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said that talks should end if Iran does not want a deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif…
The Nuclear Deal’s Adversaries Back Home
Robin Wright (for The New Yorker) Campaigns against a deal are already in full swing in both Washington and Tehran. If an agreement eventually emerges, both parties will have to sell it to constituencies that remain skeptical because of the even more tortured history between the two countries—…
Iranian Background Briefing on Nuclear Talks
On July 6, an Iranian official told the press in Vienna that Iran and the world’s six major powers have made “good progress on almost all the issues,” but that gaps remained. The negotiator said that Iran would prefer to finalize a deal as soon as possible, but also noted that the deadlines are…
Zarif Video Message from Vienna
In a YouTube video message, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif expressed optimism that Iran and the world’s six major powers could reach a deal on Tehran’s nuclear program. “At this eleventh hour, despite some differences that remain, we have never been closer to a lasting outcome,” he said in…
UN Report: Iran Complying with Interim Deal
Iran has continued to meet its obligations under the interim nuclear deal, according to a new report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog. Tehran has placed more than four tons of its low enriched uranium (LEU) into a pipeline that converts it into dioxide, which would require significantly more processing…