IRAN NUKES DEAL: What Are They Trying to Tell Us?

April 3, 2015: Iran Nuclear Deal Reached

The headlines today are about the deal that has been reached with Iran on their nuclear program.

Pundits will wear themselves out for days and weeks talking about what this means for Iran, and "how close the world came to a nuclear Iran."

But years from now, people will talk about this for what it really was: an intervention by Iran (and the rest of the world) to try to wake the US up to its own responsibility to eliminate its own nuclear arsenal.

Simply stated: Iran has carried the negotiations about this agreement under the Treaty on the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) right up to the threshold of the every-five-year global review of the NPT, or "RevCon," which will take place for a month beginning at the end of April at the United Nations. The Iran deal is a detail. The US deal is the main event.

Nuclear disarmament is on the agenda everywhere in 2015

That's because the US (and the other nuclear "haves") has an ironclad obligation under the NPT to get rid of their own nuclear weapons. (The relevant section is Article VI.) Really, the only question is what it will take to compel them to comply. (And that's no small question.)

So what is Iran trying to tell us? Through this negotiation process, Iran has forced our entire society to say it over and over again: the NPT matters ... getting rid of nuclear weapons matters ....

Iran could have made a deal a long time ago. The stakes for them in having or not having nuclear capabilities are trivial - relative to their larger purpose.

What they have accomplished is putting the issue of nuclear disarmament -- by everybody -- front and center in the public discourse at the most important possible moment.

What happens next? It will be practically impossible for the US to waltz into the NPT RevCon without being prepared to talk about its own obligations under the NPT.

But bringing US nuclear disarmament to fruition will require the pressure from all of us . . . .


TAKE ACTION:

April 2015: Join all the Peace and Planet

nuclear disarmament activities.

Every Tuesday: spread the word about

the need for nuclear disarmament with

#NoNukesTuesday on social media.

Non-stop: find your member of Congress

and tell them you want nuclear disarmament NOW!

(See sample letter.)

Related posts

That a bunch of GOP senators are agitated about nuclear weapons is a good thing. Now we just need to re-direct their energy to where the real problem is.

(See EXTRA! U.S. Congress Notices Problem with Nuclear Weapons! )

It may be counterintuitive, but House Majority Leader John Boehner has actually done a good thing by inviting Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress.

(See Bibi and Boehner's Gift to the Nuclear Disarmament Movement )





 

There are three centers of power that will impact nuclear disarmament: the President, the Congress, and the people. One of them will have to make nuclear disarmament happen.

(See Countdown to U.S. Nuclear Disarmament (With or Without the Politicians) )

In light of the upcoming review of the NPT (Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons) and the fact that organizations throughout the country and worldwide are organizing to press the U.S. to substantially reduce its stores of nuclear weapons, it seems like a good time to use social media to get EVERYONE on board!

(See 5 Ways YOU Can Make a Difference on #NoNukesTuesday )

Far too many people think that the NPT is about freezing the status quo, and preventing additional states from obtaining nuclear weapons. This is a fundamental misunderstanding. The NPT is based on a quid pro quo: nuclear "have-nots" agree to not acquire nuclear weapons, and nuclear "haves" agree to disarm.

(See A DEAL'S A DEAL! (What part of "nuclear disarmament" doesn't the US understand?) )

 How do you formulate a statement that can somehow convince the United States to eliminate its threatening nuclear weapons?  How do you formulate the 10th request? Or the 100th? Knowing all the time that the United States is in the position -- will always be in the position -- to say, "No" ?  At what point does it dawn on you that the United States will never give up its nuclear weapons, because it has the power and the rest of the world doesn't?

(See 360 Degree Feedback in New York (2014 NPT Prepcom and How the World Views the United States))

U.S. Ambassador to the Conference on Disarmament and Special Representative for Biological and Toxin Weapons (BWC) Convention Issues says "The P-5 have a responsibility to do more [with respect to theP-5's Article VI obligations]"

(See IT'S A START: U.S. Ambassador: "The P-5 have a responsibility to do more" )

As the Obama administration prepares in the days ahead to pivot from its focus on Syria to something truly startling -- talking to Iran! -- it is important that the American public devotes some time and energy to learning and thinking about Iran, the history of the U.S.-Iran relationship, and what the U.S.-Iran relationship means in the larger context of the effort to reduce the risk of war and violence in the world.

(See IRAN: 3 Reality Checks on the Emerging U.S. Narrative)


There will be no shortage of members of Congress who see this as an opportunity to puff out their chests and wave their arms and insist on continued conflict. It will be the work of the people to insist that the path of peace be followed through.

(See Talk With Somebody About Iran Today. (Maybe a Member of Congress?))