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Republican objection to Iran deal troubling

Shortly after Iran and the world community signed their historic agreement limiting that country’s nuclear program, a Washington Post/ABC poll showed a respectable 56 percent of Americans supported the Iran nuclear deal.

In Iran itself, the ratification of the deal led to widespread jubilation on the streets with people celebrating the end of the sanctions which had harmed their economy.

Despite a long history of hostilities between the two nations, Iranians and the plurality of Americans, together with their respective governments see the deal as a means of achieving better relations.

The nuclear deal in question upholds Iran’s right as a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty to enrich uranium, but only for strictly civilian purposes.

By requiring routine, comprehensive and random inspections by the International Atomic Agency of Iran’s existing and future nuclear facilities, the existing framework of the nuclear deal represents a powerful safeguard against a nuclear-armed Iran.

The leaders of both Iran and the United States have, in effect, stuck their necks out in order to reach this compromise deal in the face of determined rejectionism from hard liners at home.

The spectre of Republican opposition to this landmark compromise between Iran and the world community, which threatens to undo the potential benefits of this deal, is therefore a disturbing one.

Since the deal was reached, several leading Republicans, including though not limited to House Speaker John Boehner, have pledged to block Congressional approval for the deal.

This risks destroying the possibility of any detente between the two estranged nations for the foreseeable future.

That the U.S. and Iran have had a poisoned relationship for the past 3 decades is one of the tragedies of the contemporary age.

The possibility the two nations may lose a historic opportunity to resolve their differences over Iran’s nuclear program as a result of Republican obstructionism would be equally unfortunate.

Suhail Shafi

Hollidaysburg

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