The JCPOA was about Iran enriching uranium for peaceful purposes on its own soil. Under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty every non-nuclear weapons country has the right to enrich uranium for peaceful purposes. The NNPT also require the nuclear-weapons countries to aid the non-nuclear weapons countries with the peaceful use of the atom. The talk about "breakout time" for Iran to build a bomb is nonsense.
The US's real goal since 1979 has been to overthrow the Iranian government. It will be satisfied with nothing less. In 1979 the Iranian people overthrew the US puppet Shah of Iran Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1953 the US had overthrown the democratically elected prime minister of Iran, Mohammad Mosaddegh in favor of Reza Pahlavi taking power. The Shah was a corrupt and brutal dictator that ruled Iran by terror for almost three decades.
[Read more: The US Wants to Bring Back the Shah of Iran]
To destabilize Iran, in 1980 the US instigated Iraq's Saddam Hussein into invading Iran. That started the Iran-Iraq war that lasted until 1988. Iran suffered an estimated 262,000 people killed. In 1988 the US shot down an Iranian civilian airliner Flight 655 killing all 290 people aboard.
The US has had a policy of demonizing Iran with propaganda and attacking it with economic sanctions, covert operations, and backing terrorist groups such as Mujahideen-e-Khalq; Iran has had 17,161 of its citizens killed by terrorists. The US has been threatening Iran with "all options on the table" for decades, while Israel and Saudi Arabia have been eagerly egging the US into a war with Iran. A US war with Iran will kill millions of people. The economic and financial sanctions are killing tens of thousands of Iranian civilians now. The US people will not benefit or be safer from a war with Iran. It will make them less safe.
The ones who determine and carry out US foreign policy and wars are the ones who profit from them. The power elite are rubbing their greedy hands together just thinking about all the profit they can make from a war with Iran, and from control of Iran's riches. The American people are the ones who pay with neglected public services, such as healthcare, education and infrastructure.
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The JCOPA Explained
The JCPOA is an agreement that was reached on July 14, 2015 between Iran and the P5+1 nations. The P5+1 are the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, which are the USA, Great Britain, France, Russia and China, and "plus one" is the European Union represented by Germany. Just to confuse everybody the P5+1 is the same as the EU 3 + 3, or E3 + 3, or E3/EU + 3.
The process of negotiating was begun at the first meeting of Iran and the P5+1 on April 14, 2012 in Istanbul. On July 20, 2015, the UN Security Council unanimously passed resolution 2231 (2015) endorsing the final JCPOA agreement.
Under the United Nations Charter, article 25, resolutions of the Security Council are binding on all member countries. The United Nations Charter is itself a treaty, signed by US President Harry Truman, and ratified by the US Senate on July 28, 1945. The US Constitution Article 6 declares treaties to be the "supreme law of the land". Therefore, the US is bound by the US Constitution, as well as international law to honor resolutions of the UN Security Council, since it is a treaty.
UNSC resolution 2231 (2015) terminated all prior UN resolutions regarding Iran's nuclear program. In return, Iran agreed to give up some of its sovereignty. Iran agreed to dismantle its high-enrichment program. It even poured cement into its Arak heavy-water nuclear reactor. Iran also agreed to allow unprecedented inspection of its facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Resolution 2231 (2015) further stipulates that if any JCPOA state notifies the UNSC of an unresolved issue that "it believes" constitutes non-performance by Iran, then all of the old economic sanction will be reimpose on Iran, unless the UNSC takes steps otherwise.
In addition to the requirements of the JCPOA, the US Congress passed the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) legislation requiring the President to certify to the Congress every 90 days that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA. The IAEA has consistently reported that Iran is in compliance with the JCPOA, but the INARA does not require the president to take the word of the IAEA.
In other words, the JCPOA depended on the goodwill of the US to honor its promise. On May 8, 2018 President Trump in "badwill" withdrew the US from the JCPOA. The JCPOA did not specified any penalty to the US for its breach of the JCPOA. Nor did the JCPOA prevent the US unilaterally from imposing economic and financial sanction on Iran. Unilateral sanctions are against international law, but the US does as it pleases.
It is a gross contortion of logic to claim that Iran is now in violation of the JCPOA. The US is the party that breached the agreement. The US then made it next to impossible for Iran to continue its commitment, though it made an honest effort to do so for over a year. Iran is still complying in part with the agreement, which is its right under the agreement.
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