Vanessa Salman’s article, “Current draft of Iran deal has too many loopholes to be effective” is itself too full of holes to be effective. It sheds no new light on the Iran nuclear deal and reiterates tired, false Republican claims. Republican opposition is at best willfully ignorant and at worst is hypocritical, as they brand themselves as champions of national security yet for political and ideological reasons oppose an excellent deal.

A huge consensus of experts praises the deal. Twenty-nine prominent nuclear scientists sent President Obama a letter praising the deal, over three dozen retired generals and admirals endorsed it in a letter, and nuclear security and nonproliferation experts also praise it.

The letter by the retired generals and admirals entitled “Iran deal benefits U.S. national security” calls the deal “the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” explaining that it “provides for intrusive verification … and is not based on trust; the deal requires verifications and tough sanctions for failure to comply.”

The letter from the 29 scientists describes it as “the most comprehensive verification ever obtained,” including monitoring of uranium mining, milling, conversion to uranium hexafluoride, centrifuge manufacturing and R&D, and real-time monitoring of active centrifuges and spent fuel. Furthermore, it allows challenge inspections for any suspected clandestine operations.

Finally, “the deal includes important long-term verification procedures that last until 2040, and others that last indefinitely under the Nonproliferation Treaty and its Additional Protocol.”  The deal “will make it much easier … to know if and when Iran heads for a bomb, and the detection of a significant violation of this agreement will provide strong, internationally supported justification for intervention.”

I feel strongly about this topic because I worked for the National Nuclear Security Administration before coming to ESF for my PhD.  I’ve heard my former colleagues’ frustration that politics threaten a deal that will increase the safety of our country.

The deal will also end the suffering of everyday Iranians under the sanctions.  We should hear from Iranian undergraduate and graduate students at SU and ESF about how the sanctions have affected their lives and the lives of their families and friends back in Iran.

Far too often, Republicans are proving themselves to be the party of “no,” aiming to block everything and anything Obama does in a zero-sum race to the bottom.

Ethan Bodnaruk
M.S. Nuclear Engineering
Ph.D. Candidate, SUNY-ESF Ecological Engineering

Published on September 15, 2015 at 12:22 am