By: Dr. Peter Vincent Pry
After just five days of negotiation, Secretary of State John Kerry claims to have an agreement to stop Iran’s march toward an Islamic Bomb, his historic diplomatic triumph announced on Saturday night (November 23, 2013), just in time to headline the Sunday morning talk shows, that have focused for weeks on the failures of ObamaCare.
The Interim Agreement
Iran will destroy its stockpile of uranium enriched to 20 percent, halt further uranium enrichment, halt work on the Arak nuclear reactor, and allow daily United Nations inspections, in exchange for a partial and temporary suspension of economic sanctions. According to Secretary Kerry, a permanent agreement is to be negotiated over the next 6 months to prevent Iran from ever building the Islamic Bomb, and that will return Iran to the fold of “normal nations.”
At least the above is the strong impression created by Kerry and White House spokesmen on the Iran deal during the Sunday talk shows. By Tuesday, even the leftwing New Republic noticed that the “achievements” of the Iran nuclear deal are not exactly what was trumpeted on Sunday.
In fact, under the terms of the interim agreement, Iran will not destroy its uranium stockpile enriched to 20 percent–which can be quickly enriched to 90 percent and turned into nuclear weapons. Iran will retain control of this near nuclear weapons grade uranium, but has promised to convert it into a different chemical compound and enrich no more uranium to the 20 percent level over the next 6 months.
Both of these steps are so easily reversible as to be virtually meaningless as impediments to Iran becoming a nuclear weapons state.
In fact, under the interim agreement, Iran is not required to halt construction of the Arak nuclear reactor. Tehran has agreed not to install fuel rods. This step Iran almost certainly will be unprepared to do over the next 6 months anyway, as fuel rod installation is done during the final phase of reactor construction. So Iran will continue to build the Arak nuclear reactor, that will provide an additional pathway to nuclear weapons by breeding plutonium.
In fact, under the interim agreement, United Nations inspectors will be allowed only at the few facilities already known to be part of Iran’s nuclear program. The UN will not be allowed free ranging inspections or access to several huge and highly suspicious facilities, like the Quds underground complex.
More than likely, the largest part of Iran’s nuclear weapons program will continue at Quds and elsewhere.