UANI Issues Statement Regarding P5+1 Deal with Iran

New York, NY - United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, issued the following statement today:

 

While we sincerely hope that a comprehensive and verifiable agreement that rolls back Iran's nuclear program is reached in 6 months, the interim agreement reached in Geneva tonight provides disproportionate sanctions relief to Iran. 

 

By not agreeing to dismantle a single centrifuge, Iran has not rolled back its nuclear infrastructure and with the many centrifuges that it is currently operating, Iran retains the ability to breakout and produce enough weapons-grade uranium for a nuclear weapon in as little as 2 months. At the same time, the carefully constructed sanctions architecture developed over decades has been significantly rolled back.

 

It is unrealistic to characterize sanctions as a spigot that can be turned off and back on. By rolling back sanctions now, the international community is significantly lessening the pressure on Iran's economy and the best measure of that pressure is the value of the Iranian rial. Six months from now we believe that the Iranian rial will have regained significant lost value and there will be far less economic pressure on the Iranian economy. And accordingly there will be far less pressure for Iran to actually dismantle a material number of centrifuges, much less end its nuclear enrichment and plutonium programs for which it has no practical purpose except to produce a nuclear weapon. If Iran's industrial-size nuclear program is not rolled back, Tehran will inherently maintain the breakout capacity to build such a weapon. 

 

Tonight's events are a disappointment for those of us who have worked to pressure Iran's economy and impose the toughest sanctions in history on Iran - the same sanctions that brought the regime to the negotiating table. Those touting this agreement do not appear to understand the fragility of sanctions, or the dangers of rolling them back and easing the economic pressure on Iran.