Iran nuclear deal heralds positive development

There has been dramatic developments after the comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran was reached on July 14  by five permanent members of the UN Council plus Germany and the UN Security  Council voted unanimously on July 20 in favour of a resolution (2231). The resolution aims at establishing a monitoring system for Iran's nuclear programme termed Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). These developments took place against the backdrop of heated discussion in both the US and the Middle East against the deal. The resolution says: "The council endorsed the joint comprehensive plan of action which is described as the culmination of diplomatic efforts by the so-called E 3 plus 3--China, France, Germany and Russia, the UK, the US and Iran, to reach a comprehensive long-term and proper solution to the Iranian nuclear issue". The draft was placed by a US representative. In fact, the European Union initiated talks with Iran in 2005.
 The basic concept of the nuclear deal with Iran is based on the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) of the United Nations which came into effect from March 05 of 1970. The Islamic Republic of Iran is a signatory to the NPT. Under the treaty, Iran is entitled to have nuclear power for domestic use. Therefore, negotiations with Iran should have been concentrated on the production of uranium to build an atom bomb. Iran's support to 'terrorism in the Middle East' or 'American hostage in Iran' does not come under the purview of negotiations on nuclear deal.
The critics in the US and Israel should understand basic concept of the NOT. Israel has no right to criticise the deal because it did not accede to the NPT though it has acquired weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear bombs. On the other hand, Iran is the country that has gone beyond its obligations to impress  others about its peaceful intentions, which is reflected in its signing of an additional protocol to its safeguard agreement. Germany, being a nuclear power for civilian purpose, has signed the NPT. Incidentally, two other nuclear powers, India and Pakistan, did not sign the NPT while North Korea backed out of the treaty in January of 2003.
Under the terms of the nuclear deal, Tehran has agreed to reduce its existing stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98 per cent, disable two-thirds of its uranium enrichment centrifuges, convert the underground Fordow facility into a research centre and redesign the heavy-water reactor in Arak to make  it unable  to produce weapons-grade plutonium. Both these projects were under attack by adversaries of the Iranian regime.
These and other relevant measures as agreed upon will be verified by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of the United Nations. By December of 2015, the IAEA will certify whether the Iranian authorities have abided by the rules and given satisfactory answers relating to nuclear programmes of the past and present. If Iran fulfils these commitments, the US, the EU and the UN will suspend the nuclear-related sanctions in stages, lift a longstanding arms embargo in five years, and drop restrictions on the country's ballistic missile programme in eight years. However, the US would not lift its sanction unless it is satisfied over Iranian action in the Middle East.
The prospective presidential candidates from the Republican Party in the 2016 US presidential election have launched a virulent campaign against the Iran nuclear deal in line with the hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has called the agreement 'historic mistake for the world'. In this campaign, former Secretary of State under Richard Nixon and former secretary of state George Shultz under President Ronald Reagan in a joint article in the Wall Street Journal of July 17 toed the same line of thinking. They said 'negotiations that began 12 years ago as an international effort to prevent an Iranian capability to develop a nuclear arsenal are ending with an agreement that concedes this very capability.'
Meanwhile, Israeli Ambassador to the US Ron Dermer met at least 40 conservative lawmakers on July 21  suggesting to block the deal while Speaker of the House John Boehner is reported to have said the Congress would do everything possible  to stop a new nuclear deal with Iran. The Obama administration has sent a copy of the deal to the Chairman of Foreign Relations Committee of the Senate to review the deal. The review would likely to be completed in September after the recess of the Congress is over.  
This writer was watching discussions on nuclear deal with Iran sponsored by the Arms Control Association at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace Institute which was held on July 17. Most of the scholars in the discussion were of the opinion that the deal was historic like the Camp David accords which secured an enduring peace between Egypt and Israel. The Middle East and nuclear proliferation expert with the Royal United Services Institute Aaron Stern strongly feels it makes the possibility of Iran developing a nuclear weapon in the next 25 years extremely remote.
Whatever critics of the deal may have perceived, the fact remains that the Security Council's adoption of the current resolution starts the JCPOA coming into effect in 90 days. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon welcomed the measures which he said "will ensure the enforcement of the JCPOA". He added that it establishes procedures that will facilitate the action plan's implementation, enabling all states to carry out their obligations contained in the agreement while UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Internal Sanctions Idriss Jazary is of the opinion the deal is the beginning of the end of its strict sanctions regime to which Iran has been bound for years. Sanctions also included a number of states, individuals or in the framework of various regional organisations.  
Since unanimous adoption of a resolution by the Security Council for joint comprehensive plan of action, German Economic Minister Sigmar Gabriel, who is also Vice-Chancellor of Germany, accompanied by a business delegation, visited Tehran for three days from July 22 to negotiate renewal of trade pact.  Germany was the biggest trading partner of Iran in Europe before the series of economic sanctions imposed on it. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius is due to visit Tehran this week. British Prime Minister David Cameron has also spoken with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.  Similarly, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has spoken with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the summit of Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in Ufa city of Russia on July 09 for promoting of an Iran-Oman-India pipeline which signals a new round of deal with Iran to import oil and gas to meet India's oil and gas needs. This positive development goes in favour of Iranians who suffered extremely as a result of economic sanctions by individual countries, apart from the UN, some of which went beyond what was required by the Security Council.
The writer is a retired
diplomat from Bangladesh. amjad.21@gmail.com