In the story of the Minotaur, Daedalus was tasked with
building a labyrinth under the order of King Minos of Crete to imprison the
dreaded creature. The Minotaur, part man part bull, was an unnatural being. He
was created when Pasiphae, King Minos’ wife mated with the bull sent by
Poseidon; this was made possible by the wooden cow crafted by Daedalus into
which Pasiphae climbed into. The Iran framework agreement, is in some respects
like the labyrinth – an artificial solution to a man-made problem. As the tale
goes, only a great Athenian hero (Theseus) is needed to finally slay the
Minotaur.
On 2 April 2015, the P5+1 and Iran had agreed to the
framework agreement against all odds. The details of the agreement were also
more granular than had been expected by the international community. Initial
expectations were that high level terms would be agreed by the end of March
deadline, with the finer details to be thrashed out over the following months
ahead of the ultimate 30 June deadline. Reaching a nuclear deal with Iran has been a desire for the US for
decades, and following lengthy negotiations, it appears that things are now
moving in the right direction. Iran has also been more willing to come to the
table following years of sanctions which have crippled its economy.
The main
elements of this interim deal are:
- Centrifuges: Reduce the number of centrifuges from 19,000 to around 6,000
- Enrichment: To no more than 3.37% for at least 15 years
- Stockpile: 10,000kg stockpile to be reduced to 300kg
- Facilities:
- Fordow to be converted for research purposes with no enrichment
- Enrichment only allowed at Natanz which will house 5,060 first generation centrifuges
- Arak to be redesigned as a heavy water research facility with no plutonium production capabilities
- Monitoring: IAEA to monitor supply, usage and sale of nuclear technology with inspections to last for up to 25 years
In
return, sanctions on Iran will be suspended upon IAEA certification of
compliance with the final terms of the deal. Any breach of the terms will
result in immediate reinstatement of sanctions. However, cracks are already in
sight with Iran declaring that there will be no deal unless sanctions are
lifted immediately upon conclusion of the deal. Also, in the latest twist of
events, the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee voted unanimously (19-0) on
15 April in support of legislations that would give Congress authority to
approve any final deal thus undermining the President’s authority to conduct
foreign policy with Iran.
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