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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…

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…