What we Must See in Any Nuclear Deal with Iran

[This from William O. Beeman, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota, who has just returned from several weeks in Iran. It was written for distribution in Minnesota but is posted here with his permission.]

Representative John Kline has presented his view of the current nuclear negotiations with Iran (“What we Must See in Any Nuclear Deal with Iran,” [Minneapolis Star Tribune] June 24, 2015). Unfortunately he is misinformed or chooses to ignore basic facts about the Iranian nuclear program.

Representative Kline insists that “Iran must dismantle its nuclear infrastructure.” He ignores the fact that Iran is signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) along with nearly 200 other nations, including the United States. Israel, Pakistan, India and North Korea are not signatories. The NPT guarantees all non-nuclear weapons states, including Iran, the “inalienable right” to nuclear energy development. Moreover, it requires the United States to protect that right.

Although the mainstream press and some members of Congress such as Rep. Kline now present Iran’s nuclear program as if it were uniquely threatening, nineteen other non-nuclear-weapons signatories to the NPT have precisely the same or more advanced nuclear infrastructure as Iran, including advanced uranium enrichment, and no one is calling for them to restrict their nuclear activities, even though some, like Japan, have openly said they will manufacture nuclear weapons in the future if they feel the need.

Rep. Kline  further states: “Iran’s nuclear weapons quest must be denied indefinitely.” What quest? Although many now believe that Iran has a nuclear weapons program, there is absolutely no evidence anywhere that such a program did exist, exists today or will exist in the future. The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and even the past four heads of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency all affirm this.

Another demand is that “Inspectors must be permitted unimpeded access to suspect sites.” Under the NPT signatories to the treaty are already required to allow inspections of any site with fissile material, or where fissile material will be introduced within 180 days. The IAEA already enforces this, and has identified every scrap of fissile material currently in Iran. Congressional members like Rep. Kline want a blank warrant to inspect anything and everything in Iran without notification. No nation on earth would agree to this requirement as a matter of national sovereignty.

Those like Rep. Kline who believe that the United States has the upper hand in these negotiations are very wrong. I have just returned from an extensive tour of Iran. The sanctions imposed by the P5+1 nations have not crippled Iran at all. Iran sustained a 3% GDP growth rate last year, higher than the United States. Its internal economy is strong. There are abundant food supplies, and Iran has learned how to circumvent most economic restrictions. Iranians care about the inconvenience of the sanctions, but mostly they long for an end to the estrangement with the United States. It is no secret that the Iranian public loves Americans; anyone American traveling to Iran knows this to be true. Iranians also know that the European partners in the negotiations are very likely to sign the agreement whether the United States does or not. International businessmen and women are flooding Iran today with investment proposals in advance of the talks. They clearly know something that Rep. Kline doesn’t.

Our elected representatives such as Rep. Kline would do well to first inform themselves about the actual parameters of the Vienna talks, and second, to refrain from making excessive demands that aim to torpedo the negotiations. Rapprochement with Iran is inevitable. The only questions are when, and whether the United States is going to be left standing alone with its unrealistic demands and its flawed view.

– William O. Beeman, Professor and Chair, Department of Anthropology, University of Minnesota; website: http://www.williambeeman.com; blog: http://www.wbeeman.com; download publications: https://umn.academia.edu/WilliamOBeeman

See also Prof. Beeman’s comments in the Huffington Post at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/william-o-beeman/