By Shehzeen Alam
The Iran nuclear deal was one of the crowning diplomatic achievements of former US President Barack Obama. However, it was a disputed issue ever since it came to completion in 2015. This is because everyone had their own opinions as to whether Obama had made the right decision. Was he too soft in terms of nuclear regulations? Or was he too harsh in terms of nuclear regulations?
Before 2015, Iran had a uranium stockpile to create 8 to 10 nuclear bombs. The speculation that Iran may have nuclear weapons terrified the globe - the uncertainty and suspicion troubling communities was similar to the hysteria during the Cold War. The fact that Iran had a uranium stockpile to create 8 to 10 nuclear bombs also created serious worry for many of the Western powers.
After Iran signed the nuclear deal, they reduced their stockpile of uranium by 98% and kept their level of uranium enrichment at 3.67%, which made it impossible for them to create nuclear weapons. In return for Iran’s signature, several world powers lifted sanctions on Iran. At the time, Obama stated that the Iran nuclear deal was “the strongest non-proliferation agreement ever negotiated.”
In the view of the fact that Iran had nuclear bombs which are very powerful and can wipe out the population of countries, Iran had a certain power over the Western countries. This is why Obama thought it was so important to get Iran to sign the Iran nuclear deal.
The Iran Nuclear Deal sparked a great deal of debate, across the US and worldwide. Many liberals think that the Iran nuclear deal is precisely what foreign policy should look like. It forecloses the possibility of an Iran-American war, using diplomatic cooperation and negotiation. However, Republicans and neoconservatives argue that this deal abjects the surrender of everything America should stand for, believing that the US should have forced Iran to give up its entire nuclear program.
A few years later, on May 8th 2018, Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal. This not only increased tensions between the US and the Middle East, but also upset European allies who were a part of the Iran nuclear deal. Trump stated that the Iran nuclear deal was a “horrible one-sided deal that should have never, ever been made.” He believed that the deal didn’t address Iran’s ballistic missile program, its role in Yemen and Syrian conflicts, and its nuclear activities beyond 2025. After withdrawing from the deal, Trump reinstated sanctions on Iran, which made it harder for them to sell their oil abroad or use the international banking system.
Ever since Trump withdrew the US from the Iran nuclear deal, tensions between the US and Iran have steadily risen. On January 5th 2020, Iran also withdrew from the nuclear deal and mere days after that, Trump ordered a strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, an Iranian major general — this enraged and angered many Iranian citizens. A UN expert states that “the US had provided no evidence that showed Soleimani specifically planning an imminent attack against US interest.” This created global panic surrounding the possibility of a US-Iran War.
On 14th February 2021, Iran’s Supreme Leader Khamenei reiterated that they would only return to the nuclear deal when the US lifted its sanctions. This was after Biden stated in his campaign for presidency multiple times that he would try to improve Iran-US relations.
After this on 18th February 2021, Biden stated in his first sit-down interview as President that Iran would have to stop enriching uranium before his administration lifted sanctions. What we see now is a standoff between Iran and America with neither willing to stand down to benefit the other. Iran is waiting for the US to remove sanctions before taking actions and the US is waiting for Iran to stop enriching uranium before taking further actions.
No one is quite certain what might or could happen in the future. Will Iran or the US make the first move back to restoring some sort of nuclear deal? Nevertheless, the decades of enmity between the countries are not benefitting anyone. Iran continues to have multiple sanctions imposed on them by foreign countries making it quite difficult to export oil, and America has continued to have rising conflicts with several Middle Eastern countries.
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