Arjun Nair, Columnist
The United States of America has had a major investment in the Islamic Republic of Iran since the 20th Century, from ousting Mossadegh in 1953 to place a new Shah on the throne to watching the embassy fall in 1979.
Ever since the Ayatollah took power, U.S.-Iran relations have been negative. When Iran started developing its uranium resources, many began to worry that Iran would build a bomb, thus sanctions were placed on the country. Recently, the U.S., Iran, the other P5 countries and Germany signed an agreement stating that Iran can use its uranium on a heavily-regulated basis, but only for nuclear energy.
There has been much debate as to whether or not the recent nuclear deal is good for the world. Many people worry that Iran is going to develop nuclear weapons regardless and use them on Israel and maybe elsewhere.
Iran’s former president Ahmadinejad, a known Holocaust denier, has made no secrets about his anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist attitudes. Incumbent President Rouhani, though still against the U.S. and Israel, has made it clear that he is more intelligent and willing to negotiate than his predecessor.
The rest of the Security Council P5 as well as Germany and Iran are all signatories to the deal, but the main thing that leads us to hesitate is our relationship with Israel. Israel is one of the most important U.S. allies in the Middle East, and we should work to maintain that relationship to the best of our ability.
But we should not forsake peace when it is possible, simply to satisfy Israel and Netanyahu. U.S. interests need to be the primary director of our foreign policy and what is best for Israel may not necessarily be what is best for the U.S. or the world.
Iran may make threats against Israel, and those are certainly threats that we cannot ignore, but it is better to at least try and sit down and settle those agreements as we have done in this deal.
The requirements appear pretty strict and make it tough for Iran to step out of bounds. Iran cannot use a great deal of the uranium and there are a number of inspections. If Iran violates the agreement, any of the signatory nations are allowed to reinstitute sanctions.
Many suggest that what Iran needs is more sanctions, but sanctions only hurt the Iranian people, and that only serves to further drive them to hatred. We have a strict, peaceful deal with Iran that still removes some of the burdensome sanctions, and it is imperative that it passes. No deal could lead to the possibility of a war which should only be used as the last possible resort.
We must always be wary of Iran and its intentions. President Obama himself said that “this deal is not built on trust. It is built on verification.” The nuclear deal will ensure that Iran will be less, not more, of a worry.