Iran hardliners are still threatening the nuclear deal

After 13 years of tension and negotiations, Iran and the international community have celebrated “Implementation Day” – the confirmation that Iran has made good on its promises to accept the nuclear deal struck in July 2015.

 

The Islamic Republic has now given up any programme that could potentially yield a nuclear weapon.

 

It has shipped almost all enriched uranium outside Iran, reduced uranium centrifuges by 70%, and re-designed a heavy-water nuclear reactor to prevent the production of plutonium by-product, which could be used for a bomb.

 

It has also acceded to the Additional Protocol of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, meaning it will allow more extensive supervision and inspection of its nuclear facilities.

 

In return, the US and the EU will begin lifting the sanctions which crippled the Iranian economy and drastically cut its oil exports. An estimated $100 billion of Iran’s assets will be unfrozen. Foreign investment will be allowed to return.

 

Some worry that the American right, which loathes the deal, could try to scupper it. But for all the inevitable sniping from Republican presidential candidates, some hostile legislators, and conservative think tanks, its survival doesn’t depend on Washington, where the Obama Administration has managed to embed the agreement as a political reality. Instead, any serious challenge will come from Tehran.

 

Read More: Iran hardliners are still threatening the nuclear deal – Business Insider