Under legislation passed in
May, Mr. Obama won’t be able to ease any sanctions against Iran
during a 60-day period designated for lawmakers to review the deal. The 60-day
period doesn’t begin until the administration has submitted the completed
deal’s full text and any appendices to Congress. Had negotiators struck a deal
by July 9, that review period would only have been 30 days.
President Obama announced that
the U.S. and international community have reached an important agreement that
will block all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon.
Civilian Nuclear Program
The six-power group—the U.S., U.K., Russia, China, Germany and
France—will cooperate with Iran to help modernize parts of its civilian nuclear
program.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE DEAL
Centrifuges and Uranium
Iran will remove two-thirds of
its centrifuges, machines that enrich uranium; will cut its stockpile of
enriched uranium below 300 kilos; won’t produce enriched uranium over
3.67%purity for 15 years; and will change the design of its Arak plutonium
reactor so it won’t produce weapons-grade material.
Facilities
Iran can keep all three of its
nuclear facilities, though it will only be able to enrich uranium in one of
them. After 15 years, Iran could significantly rev up its enrichment program.
Comprehensive Monitoring
Iran must allow comprehensive
monitoring of its nuclear and broader access to non-nuclear facilities,
including oversight of its nuclear supply chain such as uranium mines and
centrifuge plants, for up to 25 years.
Civilian Nuclear Program
The six-power group—the U.S.,
U.K., Russia, China, Germany and France—will cooperate with Iran to help
modernize parts of its civilian nuclear program.
Easing Sanctions
Once it has implemented key steps
to scale back its nuclear program, Iran will win relief from European Union,
U.S. and United Nations energy, financial and commercial sanctions.
Implementation is expected by early 2016.
Oil Revenue
Iran stands to get back more than
$100 billion in oil revenue stuck overseas under U.S. sanctions once the deal
is implemented.
Know-How
Among the steps Iran must address
in coming months: Its past nuclear work that may have been aimed at gaining
nuclear-weapons know-how. It is likely that some issues will remain unresolved
before sanctions are lifted.
Some Sanctions Will Remain
U.S. non-nuclear sanctions,
including on energy and financial dealings with Iran, will remain. So will U.N.
constraints on Iran's buying and selling of arms and ballistic missiles for up
to five and eight years respectively. Iran must also use a specific procurement
channel to buy products that can be used in a nuclear program.
Enforcement
If Iran cheats on the nuclear
deal, there will be a relatively quick sanctions snapback mechanism in the U.S.
and the EU. However, it could take up to 65 days for U.N. sanctions to snap
back into effect.
More from The WorldPost on the nuclear agreement:
