Top Ten Facts for the Iran Nuclear Agreement
1) The parameters for the Iranian nuclear deal will set back Iran’s nuclear program for at least 15 years and provide a breakout period of one year, extended from the current period of 2 to 3 months or even 2 to 3 weeks without a deal.
2) Iran’s accession to the NPT Additional Protocol—which makes inspections much more stringent—is permanent.
3) The parameters will require a reduction of Iran’s centrifuges by two-thirds, leaving only the most technologically limited first-generation centrifuges, which enrich uranium at a comparatively slower rate.
4) The parameters will reduce the level of Iran’s enrichment of uranium to 3.67 percent, lower than the 20 percent enriched uranium currently in Iran’s stockpile, and far lower than the percentage required to make a nuclear weapon.
5) All of Iran’s uranium enrichment capacity at its Fordow facility will be eliminated; the remaining first-generation centrifuges enriching at 3.67 percent will reside at Natanz.
6) The parameters will dramatically reduce Iran’s stockpile of low-enriched uranium (LEU) from 10,000 kg to 300 kg.
7) The parameters will completely eliminate Iran’s path to the bomb using plutonium, by removing the core of the heavy water research reactor at Arak and all of Iran’s spent fuel, thus preventing Iran from reprocessing spent fuel into plutonium.
8) Iran will be subjected to a rigorous inspections and verification regime across the nuclear supply chain—from uranium mines, industrial production facilities, to nuclear reactors and centrifuges themselves—making cheating on the deal extremely costly and easily detectable.
9) In return for its good faith implementation of the deal, Iran will receive relief from US and EU sanctions, which will be suspended and then snap back into place if Iran violates the agreement. The mechanism for suspension/snap-back of UN sanctions is currently being negotiated. Regardless, all sanctions imposed on Iran due to its support for terrorism, human rights abuses, or conventional military capabilities will remain in place.
10) A limited military strike would not set back the Iranian nuclear program as much as the framework, and would only harden Iran’s intentions to pursue nuclear weapons.
