Log In


Reset Password
Columnists View from the Center Bear Smart The Travel Troubleshooter Dear Abby Student Aide Of Sound Mind Others Say Powerful solutions You are What You Eat Out Standing in the Fields What's up in Durango Skies Watch Yore Topknot Local First RE-4 Education Update MECC Cares for kids

Back the Iran deal

The only realistic alternative is another needless war

Now that the United Nations Security Council has unanimously approved the historic agreement between Iran and the world powers, President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry should be applauded for exhibiting the courage to persevere through the difficult two-year process, despite facing vitriol from opponents of diplomacy.

Those who have made their career on the back of decades of animosity between Iran and the United States are accusing the Obama administration of cowing to the mullahs by coming to a negotiated agreement rather than forcing the Iranians to give in to all our demands. But as John F. Kennedy said at the height of the Cold War, “Compromise need not mean cowardice.” In a dispute of such vital importance to each side, compromise was essential to obtaining a durable arrangement – one in which all parties could save face at home. Cowardice, rather, is refusal to enter into serious dialogue with a second-rate adversary, and being all too willing to send other people’s children off to die in another needless war.

Our negotiators have achieved what they set out to gain: assurance that Iran cannot build a nuclear weapon. Once the deal is implemented, thousands of Iran’s centrifuges will stop spinning and its enriched uranium stockpile will be reduced to the extent that it would take the Iranians over a year to rush toward a bomb if they so chose.

No one is being asked to simply take Iran at its word. The country’s nuclear program will be subject to the most intrusive inspections regime in the history of nuclear nonproliferation efforts. In an unprecedented turn of events, Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain will be monitored, including not only its facilities but also the uranium mines and the nuclear scientists. The politicians and pundits who argue that Iran could still move clandestinely toward a bomb are the same ones who wrongly claimed in 2002 that Saddam Hussein had fooled gullible international inspectors, amassing an arsenal of weapons of mass destruction. Meanwhile, the experts who got it right on Iraq are now confident that Iran’s program can be successfully monitored.

Importantly, if Iran were to violate the deal, all the sanctions currently in place would snap back as stipulated by an upcoming United Nations Security Council resolution. In other words, the worst case scenario is that we will end up where we are today: an international community united in opposing a nuclear-armed Iran.

Much is being made about the money that will be rolling into the Islamic Republic’s coffers after implementation of this deal. Opponents fear that, flush with cash, Iran will increase its militant activities in the Middle East. But with an economy in shambles, and a populace with extremely high expectations for improvement in their lives, Iran will have to focus a great deal of its windfall on improvements at home, especially in its energy and industrial sectors. Furthermore, an Iran more integrated into the global economy would be less inclined to engage in destabilizing behavior that could hurt its bottom line. Meanwhile, Israel and Saudi Arabia – armed with hundreds of nuclear weapons and one of the world’s largest arsenals of imported weaponry, respectively – have more than enough to defend themselves.

Opponents of the nuclear agreement need to be honest. Ultimately, there is only one alternative to this deal: war with Iran. Over a decade of pressure didn’t force Iran to give up its nuclear program. Instead, the Iranians expanded their enrichment program exponentially as a point of national pride. It was only when the international community acknowledged Iran’s right to maintain limited enrichment on its soil that leaders in Tehran were willing and able to compromise.

Secretary Kerry and his negotiating partners in Vienna have shown us what smart, tough diplomacy can achieve over mindless chest thumping. Now, Congress has two months to review the agreement before it can be implemented. Will Sens. Michael Bennet and Cory Gardner join the clear majority of Coloradans who support this deal, and display the courage to defend our interests against special interests bent on war? For the sake of our nation’s future security, let’s hope so.

Ali G. Scotten is a Fellow with the Truman National Security Project, a nationwide movement of progressive, next-generation leaders devoted to developing and advancing smart, principled solutions to the global challenges Americans now face. He is the founder of Scotten Consulting, LLC, a company specializing in geopolitical analysis of the Middle East. He lives in Durango. Reach him at ascotten@scottenconsulting.com.



Reader Comments