The Iran Deal

Iran deal.

In 2009, a week before Obama took office, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell said, “Say no to everything he does, no matter what it is.” Is this the way government is supposed to work?

In 2010, when Obama issued a postelection invitation for Congressional leaders to join him for dinner to discuss “how we can move the American people’s agenda forward,” not one Republican from the House or Senate showed up. They said they just didn’t have the time.

Six countries have jointly negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran. Those countries are the five permanent members of the UN security council (China, France, Russia, United Kingdom, United States) plus Germany.

What does the deal require of Iran? Iran must eliminate its stockpile of medium-enriched uranium and reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%. For the next 15 years Iran may not buy any new uranium-enriching or heavy-water facilities.

A new poll finds that 59% of Americans support making a deal with Iran that restricts their nuclear program in exchange for loosening sanctions. Two thirds of Democrats and 47% of Republicans support a deal.

It isn’t just Obama that wants a deal; it’s also the other five world powers who have been negotiating with Iran. The deal is supported by 60 nuclear security experts and by more than 100 American ambassadors.

The deal requires Iran to get rid of 98% of their enriched uranium, reduce their number of centrifuges from 20,000 to the 6000 oldest centrifuges, and allow constant monitoring of their two big reactors. One of those reactors is inside a mountain and would likely not be destroyed by an air strike.

If we don’t do the deal, many of the sanctions are going to go away anyway, because the other countries are not going to continue them. So do the deal and get all the above, or do nothing and get nothing.

Ronald Reagan tried to trade weapons to Iran in return for hostages. We took Iran’s side in the Iran-Iraq war. We took Iraq’s side in Operation El Dorado Canyon. We shot down an Iranian airliner, killing 270 Iranian civilians.

Do nothing, do the deal, bomb, or invade are our four options. If we do the deal, the last two options are still available. If we do the deal, maybe we won’t have to use those last two options.