With the Syrian refugee crisis’ constant evolution, news of the Iran nuclear deal, officially the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, has left the spotlight. Nonetheless, developments pertaining to the deal have not been put on hold.
The deal, signed on July 14 by Iran, China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States, Germany, and the European Union, has been controversial in the United States Congress. According to CNN, Republican lawmakers are at best hesitant to endorse the deal, the common worry being that lifting sanctions on Iran will enable the state to continue funding terrorism.
According to Time, the basics of the deal are if Iran drastically reduces nuclear production infrastructure and facilities, eliminates its stores of nuclear-grade uranium, and subjects itself to inspections from the UN, the other signing nations in the agreement will lift their long standing economic sanctions. Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders has come out in support of the deal to CBS and the Washington Post, saying that while the deal “is not perfect,” the U.S. has no choice but to “negotiate with other countries. We have to negotiate with Iran. And the alternative of not reaching an agreement, you know what it is? It’s war. Do we really want another war, a war with Iran?”
Republican presidential candidates, Donald Trump and Ted Cruz, disagree. According to CNN, the two shared their opinions on the matter earlier this month on the campaign trail, this time on Capitol Hill.
Trump stated, “I’ve never seen something so incompetently negotiated — and I mean never.”
Cruz weighed in, saying, “If Senate Democrats decide that party loyalty matters more than national security and if Republican leadership decides that showboating is more important than stopping this deal, then the single most important issue in 2016 will be stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.”
Unfortunately for the deal’s detractors, the U.S. Senate failed to stop it from going into effect. The 60 day window Congress had to derail the operations of the nuclear deal closed as of Thursday, September 17. Three successive votes against the deal failed to reach the 60 vote threshold, the final failing in the closing hours of the workday, on Thursday. Even before the last vote, the Obama administration optimistically began carrying out its operations of the deal. According to the Washington Post, Obama and the State Department appointed Stephen Mull as senior diplomat charged with guaranteeing Tehran, Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.
House Speaker, John Boehner, still seems hopeful other legal action will possibly be used to block the deal, such as reinstating economic sanctions against Iran. Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, told the Washington Post the deal “likely will be revisited by the next commander-in-chief.”
Mechanisms of the Iran deal continue to kick in. On September 18, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it would send its director general, General Yukiya Amano, to Iran to speak with top Iranian officials, the New York Times reported.
Questions from the IAEA over “ambiguities” in Iran’s assessment of past nuclear activities have been sent ahead of General Amano. According to the New York Times the IAEA is investigating whether Iran has made efforts to develop an atom bomb.
The outcome of these talks is crucial to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action moving forward.