Iran, a beautiful country, is like a rose; it has it’s thorns. One of these major thorns is the fact that they have nuclear power and could be planning on using it to attack the west or even their neighbors. That is why the United States proposed a deal with iran, the deal is to release sanctions on them and in turn they will only be able to make low grade uranium. The united states should push for the Iran deal because iran has the resources and knowledge to make a nuclear bomb and , the US believes it is in the worlds best interest to block iran from making this weapon, and come to agreements about their future.
Iran had a huge reserve of enriched uranium and it was very threatening to its neighbors and the US. Iran’s reserve of of Uranium is enough to make 8-10 nuclear weapons(The Historic Deal). 10 nuclear bomb could decimate 250,000 square miles of land. That’s not even taken into account the land that would be affected outside of the initial blast radius. It would be about 500,000 square miles that are affected by the nuclear explosion. To put in perspective that would just about make alaska unihatiable.
With iran having 10,000 kg of enriched uranium, It would not have taken them long to pump out a nuclear weapon, only 2-3 months (The Historic Deal). Making these weapons is a very complicated process. They use uranium mined from the earth which has about 1% concentration of U-235 which is the isotopes to fuel nuclear reactors (Broad). Then centrifuges isolate and separate these isotopes to use them for other uses. You need about 90% enriched uranium to produce a bomb(Broad). As of right now there are not many ways to create nuclear energy.
There are two ways as of right now to make a nuclear energy or a nuclear weapon. The first way is to Send uranium ore to centrifuges and have it enriched(Broad). The other way is to send uranium ore to an Arak reactor and have it produce plutonium(Broad). Then these reactors concentrate the uranium. Iran can use both of these options to make weapons of mass destruction. When Iran is producing a lot of uranium and concentrating it into high levels, it can mean nuclear war for the US that why they should stop them. Iran was concentrating their uranium way too much.
Reactors in the west use about 5% enriched uranium on average to produce power where iran was running theirs around 20%(Broad). That is way higher than they need be for power, because 20% is getting in the area of of making rich enough material for bomb grade weapons. All you need to make power from nuclear energy is about 3% concentrated uranium. So the US has proposed a deal to cut iran back to 3. 7% enrichment. So that would give them the ability to produce a lot of power without getting into a dangerous area. Because if Iran became a nuclear power it could start a nuclear arms race throughout the middle east.
The US had to stop them from creating and using a nuclear weapon. The best plan of action was to block the four pathways which include: Slowing down uranium production at Natanz, stopping uranium production at Fordow, cutting off weapon-grade plutonium, and eradicating covert production of fissile material(The Historic Deal). This plan will be so effective that Aaron Stein, a nuclear physicist, even says he would give this deal an “A” because it give no opportunity for Iran to create any problems with nuclear energy(Fisher).
If the US can block them in these ways then it will make it just about impossible to create a weapon. At this time it will take the at least a year for iran to produce enough fissile material to make a nuke . But the United Nations would notice if they tried and force them to halt their production. But it is not all in US favor they still get to keep a few of their big facilities. Like Natanz, which will be their biggest facility now that Fordow is turned into a research facility(Fisher). These facilities take uranium ore that processes it and enriches the uranium to make it more concentrated(Fisher).
The More concentrated the uranium the more useful or deadly it can get. So now making a nuclear bomb is off the table for iran for at least 25 years(Fisher). The United nations will keep watch on Iran so they can’t break the agreement that they have made with them. International inspectors will be able to monitor all of iran’s nuclear programs(Broad). These inspectors get wide range in inspecting. The inspectors can go anywhere in their nuclear facilities and check up on them, including 24 hour surveillance(Broad).
They can report any suspicious behavior or any secret operations in violation of the agreement. If they do find something suspicious they can report it immediately so the United Nations can either resolve the situation or replace the sanctions that the US previously uplifted. To enforce this even more the US is cutting off and blocking them from certain accesses. So they cut their centrifuges from 20,000 to about 6,000 and had them redesign their arak reactor so it couldn’t produce weapons grade plutonium(Broad).
On top of that; restricted them so they wouldn’t be able to build any heavy water water reactors for 15 years. To make sure Iran doesn’t go against their word the united nations will have a lot of access to their nuclear facilities. In addition they are cutting their stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98%, to ensure they can’t produce a nuclear weapon and use it on their neighbors. In some areas the United States decided not to block them, but to come to agreements. They agreed to turn the fordow facility into a research center instead of enriching uranium(Fisher).
This was one of the main facilities the US wanted to secure because it was their biggest facilities that could concentrate uranium ore. They will also turn their Arak heavy water reactor into a less dangerous facility that won’t be able to produce weapon grade uranium. It will still be able to produce uranium though, But this uranium will be leaving the facility at a slower rate. So now they can’t produce near as much but can keep active. And with the hostility out of the way they can pave the way for a more lasting relationship.
Maybe the US and Iran can Become better allies. Hopefully by the end of this deal they will have more respect for each other. The thing is it would make the US safe and we would also be allies with one of the strongest middle east countries. which comes with its benefits, including a possibility at less terrorism and connections with other middle eastern countries. With us being there constantly would have to get us more familiar with each other. Because a lot of these restrictions will be in place for 15 years, and inspections will be in place for the next 25 years.
Hopefully by then they don’t even have the want or need to make such a weapon (Fisher). Now the deal is taking a little heat. Because Iran and the US are allies in a sense, but we are very lerie with each other(Ryan). Because we have been at war with their neighbors many times. This will make Iran very untrusting in the US, and the US won’t be able to trust in them because they are still considered a hostile country(Kennedy). With also militia threats of renewed attacks on U. S. It’s proven difficult to help the iranians or even engage with them because of their terrorist groups positioned there.
It is thought that Iran is even aiding the terrorist groups with the possibility of them giving the weapons. In fact they even aided other nations that the US was fighting by providing them with weapons to fight the US. How could It be right for the US to form ties with a nation that could potentially aiding terrorists. Everything starts out a little rough doesn’t mean it cant even out with time. Iran and the US have never been on great terms, but that is the point of the deal, it’s to block them and to form relations. That is protecting the United states and forming a new ally.
Throughout history the bigger nations have been fighting each other. If you look back in time; we fought Great Britain, France, Spain and Germany. Now those countries are the United States biggest allies. Even Germany who killed millions and we were in world war 1 and 2 against them. The militia in Iran has been threatening the US and with this deal they could slow down. We have had to deal with terrorists for a while now and Iran Is not associated with these terrorist groups or else the US would not deal with them because the US has no negotiations with terrorist groups.
Lastly they helped some of their neighbors because they were trying to protect them and help them. It’s the same thing if canada went to war we would aid them no questions asked. The reason for this deal is to basically make it so Iran can not threaten any nations with nuclear power, Because if too much got into their hands it could be disastrous. Currently the US does not have the best relationships in the middle east and a good relation with one of the most powerful and influential countries in that area could be a major benefit for the US.
The Idea that Iran is a hostile country is undeniable, But after 25 years of working together there is no reason why the Us and Iran will not be able to work together after that. The united states should push for the Iran deal because iran has the resources and knowledge to make a nuclear bomb and , the US believes it is in the worlds best interest to block iran from making this weapon, and come to agreements about their future. Reasons for this deal hugely outway the cons of this deal that is why the US should push for this deal.