Declared differences over what was agreed in Lausanne relate to issues such as when sanctions will be lifted and how long enrichment restrictions will apply
Two days after the US-led powers and Iran hailed a historic framework understanding designed to ensure Iran’s nuclear program not enable it to build nuclear weapons, a leading Israeli analyst on Saturday highlighted six gaping areas of discrepancy between American and Iranian accounts of what the agreement actually entails.
Ehud Ya’ari, Middle East analyst for Israel’s Channel 2 News and an international fellow at the Washington Institute think tank, said the six discrepancies represent “very serious gaps” at the heart of the framework accord. They relate to issues as basic as when sanctions will be lifted, and how long restrictions on uranium enrichment will remain in place.
Referring to Thursday’s American-issued “Parameters for a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” on the one hand, and the “fact sheet” issued Friday by the Iranian Foreign Ministry, on the other, Ya’ari noted that no deal was actually signed on Thursday, and that the leaders’ statements and the competing fact sheets were thus critical to understanding what had been agreed.
Ya’ari also highlighted the highly similar language used by President Barak Obama to hail the framework agreement as a good deal that would make the world safer, on Thursday, and president Bill Clinton in presenting the failed US framework deal aimed at thwarting North Korea’s nuclear program in 1994.
Ya’ari cited the following central gulfs between the two sides’ accounts of what was resolved at the Lausanne negotiations last week:
1. Sanctions: Ya’ari said the US has made clear that economic sanctions will be lifted in phases, whereas the Iranian fact sheet provides for the immediate lifting of all sanctions as soon as a final agreement is signed, which is set for June 30.
(In fact, the US parameters state that sanctions will be suspended only after Iran has fulfilled all its obligations: “US and EU nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after the IAEA has verified that Iran has taken all of its key nuclear-related steps.” By contrast, the Iranian fact sheet states: “all of the sanctions will be immediately removed after reaching a comprehensive agreement.”)
2. Enrichment: The American parameters provide for restrictions on enrichment for 15 years, while the Iranian fact sheet speaks of 10 years.
3. Development of advanced centrifuges at Fordo: The US says the framework rules out such development, said Ya’ari, while the Iranians say they are free to continue this work.
4. Inspections: The US says that Iran has agreed to surprise inspections, while the Iranians say that such consent is only temporary, Ya’ari said.
5. Stockpile of already enriched uranium: Contrary to the US account, Iran is making clear that its stockpile of already enriched uranium — “enough for seven bombs” if sufficiently enriched, Ya’ari said — will not be shipped out of the country, although it may be converted.
6. PMD: The issue of the Possible Military Dimensions of the Iranian program, central to the effort to thwart Iran, has not been resolved, Ya’ari said.
(The US parameters make two references to PMD. They state, first: “Iran will implement an agreed set of measures to address the IAEA’s concerns regarding the Possible Military Dimensions (PMD) of its program.” And they subsequently add: “All past UN Security Council resolutions on the Iran nuclear issue will be lifted simultaneous with the completion, by Iran, of nuclear-related actions addressing all key concerns (enrichment, Fordo, Arak, PMD, and transparency).” The Iranian fact sheet does not address PMD.)
The differences between the sides became apparent almost as soon as the framework agreement was presented in Lausanne on Thursday night. Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif issued a series of tweets late Thursday, for instance, that protested the US State Department’s assertion that the nuclear deal struck between Iran and world powers would only see sanctions on the Islamic Republic removed “in phases.”
Nonetheless, the White House expressed optimism on Friday that the June 30 deadline for a final deal would be met, and Obama reiterated that the deal reached Thursday represented a “historic understanding.”
Israel has castigated the framework as a bad deal, and a dangerous capitulation, that paves the way to an Iranian nuclear bomb.
I kept thinking of the classic line in the Seder, that in every generation, enemies rise up to destroy the Jewish people. It adds that only G-d will deliver them to safety.
If there is one lesson Jews learn here, its not to rely on others to take care of them. Princes and men cannot save and we know what their word is truly worth.
When its existence is on the line, Israel will have to act alone.
NormanF Said:
And the Iranians are celebrating in the streets, Obama made a nation of Jew haters very happy.
I heard the Iranian Rep say on TV to the Western Reporter say something like “Heck, no they don’t want to annihilate Israel – they just want to fill it with an Arab majority and rename it Palestine”
I think they’ve got meaningful jobs waiting for the Jews deep in Syria or Iran somewhere – they got the rail lines ready.
NormanF Said:
And the Iranians are celebrating in the streets, Obama made a nation of Jew haters very happy.
You want to know how bad this deal is?
Hezbollah has praised it.
NormanF Said:
The most important point of the deal is:
“wink wink, nudge nudge , say no more”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7HycFnH26U
Marie Harf already dismissed Israel’s demand and its hard to see Obama demanding anything from Iran, because that would torpedo a final deal.
Marie Harf already dismissed Israel’s demand and its hard to see Obama demanding anything from Iran, because that would torpedo a deal.
Any deal should not only recognize Israel’s right to exist but shoudl involve a withdrawal of all Iranian troops and material and arms supply from the entire middle ease and a retraction of their stated policy to annihilate Israel.
If they are sincere, then that’s not a problem.
I saw a CNN newscaster standing next to a board map explainging to another newscaster Iran’s sphere’s of military Influence .
He circled every place Yemen, Iran Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Syria – later he even starting talking about further away where it’s influence was not violent but political attempt at expansion.
He missed one place
He didn’t put a red circle around it – he never mentioned it’s name.
My eyes were riveted, waiting waiting.
I had the feeling of what it must be like to be a rape victim in a North American police station waiting for justice that just never comes.
GAZA!
Because of course we mustn’t upset the Muslim Immigrant viewers or upset Obama, must we?
It still remains a dangerous capitulation. Without tough enforcement measures, it can’t be turned into an agreement Israel could live with. And its highly unlikely Iran will agree to them.