By Solomiya Syvyk
News Editor
Following two years of negotiations, Iran and the United States, along with five other world powers, have produced a framework specifying the limitations on Tehran’s nuclear program. After eight days and nights of talks in Lausanne, Switzerland, the basis of the agreement was announced on April 2 by Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian coequal Mohammad Javad Zarif; the proposed plan is laid out for a span of 15 years, including attributions which make it the most intrusive inspection system in history.
The unsigned accord has Iran reduce its stockpile of low-enriched Uranium from 10,000 to 300 kilograms and its number of operating centrifuges to 5,060, one-third its current amount.
“But perhaps the most important compromise came in a lengthy battle over whether Iran would be allowed to conduct research and development on advanced centrifuges, which are far more efficient than current models. The Iranians won the right to research, but not to use more modern machines for production for the next 10 years,” wrote Michael R. Gordon and David E. Sanger in the New York Times. The remaining 5 years of the accord would enable Iran to steadily resume implementation of their findings.
One week after the political framework was completed, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announced that “all economic sanctions would have to be lifted on the day any final agreement was signed and that military sites would be strictly off limits to foreign inspectors,” wrote Thomas Erdbrink and David E. Sanger in the New York Times. This is deemed as highly problematic considering the United States held leverage by suspending the sanctions in phases so as to ensure Iran is following through with its obligations. Also, Fordo, along with several other sites, are located on military bases, thus partly preventing one of the main objectives reached in the accord, thorough inspection of Iran’s remaining nuclear facilities.
“The proposal displayed to the public from the United States’ perspective still does not completely match the wants of Iran, especially concerning the timing of the sanctions and the extent of the inspections. These two small details which seem almost irrelevant in the big picture could actually permanently halt the entire process which would deem the two years of negotiations as pointless,” said senior, Hoyt Hoelper.
As the probable accord presents a potential in renewing relations with a 35 year avowed enemy, unresolved disputes are to be voiced at the next round of discussions in Vienna in order to finalize an agreement by the mutually decided and already extended deadline of June 30.
