Considering Iran was already "3 to 6 months away" from obtaining nukes, the Sunni nations probably already have pursued their own options, regardless of this deal. This deal does not hand Iran nukes. If followed, it pushed their ability to obtain nukes from 3 months to 10 years.
Yeah, that's the big "if" isn't it? If not followed, as it most likely will not be, they get nukes every bit as quickly while gaining billions.....that's why they are celebrating this as much as they are.
Everyone states that they were 3-6 months away from a weapon, when we know that this is hogwash. NO ONE really knows how far away they really were. Furthermore, isnt it funny how Obama was shocked at how easily he was able to get the support from Russia and China??? Considering everything else that has been going on??? I truly am happy for the many innocent people in Iran that suddenly have new found hope, but their happiness will quickly turn to sorrow. There is no question that sanctions have hurt them tremendously, but history has shown that that part of the world is highly unstable for such deals to work. Look at the current wastelands of Afghanistan, and Iraq...
It's widely believed that the Saudi's already have access to Pakistani nukes in exchange for funding their nuclear program. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-24823846
These guys are truly geek of this. Definitely worth listening if you want an expert view and are interested in learning more.
I definitely agree with this. I don't have a problem with the agreement, given that there wasn't much of an agreement to be had to begin with. That's why the arms control geeks in one of the provided links all gave the deal an 'A', even though they had concerns about it. It was graded on a curve; judged against what deal was actually possible If Iran wants nukes, Iran is going to get nukes. Sanctions can only work so well on a country sitting on top of perhaps the world's most desired resource. Particularly when we have major players (Russian, China, others?) who are often happy just to work against the U.S. What we should be working on is how we are going to work with Iran going forward. Perhaps this agreement is the beginning of that. But that all depends on how it works going forward, not really on the agreement itself.
That's right - Iran is not North Korea. And Iran will eventually get nukes short of invasion which we all know works out really well in middle east countries if you look at places like Afghanistan and Iraq. It's time for us to realize that stable countries in the middle east are not our real enemy. Iraq with Saddam is a far lesser threat to us than ISIL. We've replaced a powerful man we didn't like but whom was held in check by Iran with a maniacal terrorist state who badly would like to launch massively destructive attacks on the U.S. at any cost. ISIS is the one we don't want to gain power. Iran with nukes doesn't keep me up at night. ISIL with a nuke would.
It's always baffling to me how the USA (both government and populace) seem to have such a fervent anti-Iranian stance. I can only postulate that for the government folks, they're still smarting over the 1979 revolution and the corresponding loss of control over that corner of the Middle East. And I would guess that this sentiment has slowly petered it's way into our society at large. Who we choose to support in the Middle East and who we demonize is often utterly nonsensical from any standpoint other than...oil. But we like to pretend otherwise I guess. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Apologies for missing your reply. Yes, it is possible depending on how much farther along Iran is to nuclear weapons than we know. Iran's batdung crazy leadership, believing Obama is the incredible weakling that he is, could well attack Israel, a nuclear power that will aggressively defend itself, up to and including the use of nuclear weapons. That is not an absolute certainty in my mind or heart, but it is a very real concern.
This has been brewing since before Obama took office. I don't think getting that support was easy, but rather the fact that Russia tried playing hero by proposing to allow Iran to enrich uranium for "peaceful purposes", but the offer was still rejected. At some point, making billions of shady dollars overshadows having a nuclear reachable neighbor.
Russia got a prevision in the agreement that pretty much makes them the only country that can sell conventional arms to Iran until the conventional arms ban sunsets, I think in 5 years. Russia's motivations were all about getting paid. If anybody sells arms to Iran besides Russia at whatever markup they want, it will be referee to the Security Council as a treaty violation, which would probably result in military action.
we're in the best of hands <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>Kerry: Iran leader's vow to defy US ‘very disturbing' <a href="http://t.co/cxnbjsNvVl" title="http://hill.cm/X9Ctwnk" org_href="http://hill.cm/X9Ctwnk">hill.cm/X9Ctwnk</a> <a href="http://t.co/iyH8wDmJtk" title="http://twitter.com/thehill/status/623636356741394432/photo/1" org_href="http://twitter.com/thehill/status/623636356741394432/photo/1">pic.twitter.com/iyH8wDmJtk</a></p>— The Hill (@thehill) <a href="https://twitter.com/thehill/status/623636356741394432" data-datetime="2015-07-21T18:31:08+00:00">July 21, 2015</a></blockquote> <script src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
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There are many great Iranian people, but the mullahs and their government are up there with the world's most evil governments. I would agree with you that Saudi Arabia isn't any better than Iran, at all. But they both have evil governments.
Mountain out of a mole hill as the interviewer at the end was seeming to be getting at. A side note...Would you read All the Shahs Men? I'll even buy it for you. It should at least give you some color on why Iran feels the way they do about the US and the West. There are more books to read beyond this one, but it's a pretty quick read.
A secret deal regarding a nuclear facility that the Congress cannot see is a mountain out of a molehill? This is the same nothing-to-see-here bulls**t reassurances that led to NK getting the bomb.
