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Iranian Officials: Deal Won’t Lead to US Influence
As the United States deliberated the nuclear deal, senior officials in the Islamic Republic insisted that the agreement would not increase Washington’s influence in Iran. On August 20, Revolutionary Guards commander Ali Jafari asserted that “we will not allow the hegemonic powers to exercise…
Khamenei Comments: Deal Won’t Open Iran to U.S. Influence
On August 17, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that Iran will continue to oppose U.S. policies in the region and resist U.S. influence. “They [Americans] thought this [nuclear] deal - and it is not clear if it will be passed in Iran or in America - will open up Iran to their influence,”…
Iranian Lawmakers Petition to Review Deal
On August 16, a member of Iran’s parliamentary Presiding Board read a petition signed by 201 out of 290 lawmakers calling on the government to present a bill on the nuclear deal. The lawmakers argued that the agreement between Iran and the world’s six major powers needs the approval of parliament…
Obama on War and Peace
Robin Wright (for The New Yorker)President Obama was in a reflective mood when he met with a group of journalists at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, a few hours after he delivered a combative speech defending the Iran deal. He is, in private meetings, a congenial stoic, even as he chews…
Open Letters in Support of Deal: Scientists, Generals & Ambassadors
Groups of scientists, nonproliferation specialists, former generals and former ambassadors have authored open letters in support of the nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers. One group of former generals has also written an open letter. On August 8, 29 top U.S. scientists wrote…
Report: Economic Impact of Sanctions Relief
The Iranian economy will receive a boost from sanctions relief, both from increased trade and recovering billions of dollars in frozen assets. Additionally, Iran’s return to the oil market could cause oil prices to drop by 14 percent, according to the World Bank’s MENA Quarterly Economic Brief,…
US Treasury: New Guidance on Sanctions
On August 7, the U.S. Treasury issued guidance clarifying that Iran will continue to receive the limited sanctions relief specified by the 2013 interim nuclear deal, known as the Joint Plan of Action (JPOA). Once the final nuclear deal is implemented – likely not until early 2016 – the Treasury…
US Scientists Endorse Deal in Obama Letter
On August 8, 29 top U.S. scientists wrote to President Barack Obama in support of the Iran nuclear deal. The “innovative agreement” has “much more stringent constraints than any previously negotiated non-proliferation framework,” according to the co-signers, who include six Nobel laureates, nuclear…
Economic Trends: June and July
Cameron GlennEconomic trends in June and July were heavily shaped by the nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers, which was announced on July 14. Iran is poised to benefit economically from the deal, once a number of U.N., U.S., and E.U. sanctions are lifted. European and Asian…
International Groups Back Nuclear Deal
Several international organizations have expressed support for the final nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers. The United Nations Security Council endorsed the deal on July 20, and the Association of South East Asian Nations announced their approval on August 6. The Gulf…
US Treasury Official on Nuclear Deal
Sanctions relief was a “necessary part of any deal,” according to Adam Szubin, acting Under Secretary of Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, in his testimony to the Senate Banking Committee on August 5. Szubin defended the deal, emphasizing that it would not have been “feasible to…
Obama Defends Nuclear Deal
On August 5, President Barack Obama gave a speech at American University defending the nuclear deal. The following is a transcript of his remarks.It is a great honor to be back at American University, which has prepared generations of young people for service and public life. I want to thank…
US-Gulf Statement on Iran
The following are excerpts from a joint statement released by the U.S. – Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers meeting in Doha, Qatar on August 3. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry joined Foreign Ministers of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states and the Secretary General of the…
Rouhani Interview on Nuclear Deal
On August 2, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said that Iran’s achievements secured in the nuclear deal surpassed expectations. In a live interview on state television, he pushed back against hardliner critiques of the agreement. “This idea that we have two options before the world, either submit…
US Report: Human Trafficking in Iran
Iran's government "does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and is not making significant efforts to do so,” according to the State Department’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons Report. The report ranks Iran as a “Tier 3” country, its lowest ranking, meaning…
Obama Tries to Sell Nuclear Deal
In July and August, President Barack Obama defended the Iran nuclear deal in his public remarks. “There’s a reason why 99 percent of the world thinks that this is a good deal,” he said on July 27. “It’s because it’s a good deal.” Congress has until September 18 to either allow the agreement to…
The Final Deal: Promises and Pitfalls
The debate surrounding the historic nuclear deal between Iran and the world’s six major powers played out among two nuclear experts, a sanctions specialist and an Iran scholar during an event co-hosted by USIP at the Woodrow Wilson Center on July 23. The discussion outlined key issues that will top…
Kerry Explains the Deal at CFR
On July 24, Secretary of State John Kerry explained and defended the nuclear deal at the Council on Foreign Relations. The following is an excerpted transcript of his remarks. MR RICHARD HAASS, PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL ON FOREIGN RELATIONS: The agreement calls for significant reductions in the…
Kerry, Moniz Testify on Iran Deal
Secretary of State John Kerry defended the nuclear deal in a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on July 23 and a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on July 28. Bob Corker (R-TN), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, accused Kerry of being “fleeced." But Kerry insisted…
White House Opens Iran Deal Twitter Account
After Iran and the world's six major powers reached a final nuclear deal on July 14, the White House launched a Twitter account, @TheIranDeal, dedicated to promoting and disseminating information on the agreement. The following are a sample of tweets from the account.Watch @POTUS lay out the facts…
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…