More on the deal with Iran

Reporting on the "surprisingly specific and comprehensive" framework agreement with Iran, the New York Times provided this explanation: 

"Speaking from the White House, President Obama made a strong case for the deal, saying that it 'cuts off every pathway' for Iran to develop a nuclear weapon and that it establishes the most intrusive inspections system in history. 'If Iran cheats,' he said, 'the world will know it.'

"Even two of the most skeptical experts on the negotiations . . .  said they were impressed with the depth of detail. . . .  

"The statements by Mr. Zarif and Mr. Kerry reflected their political challenges at home. Mr. Zarif stressed that Iran had not agreed to close any facilities, something he said the “proud people” of Iran would never allow.

"Mr. Kerry emphasized that the United States and its partners had cut off every pathway to a bomb — and insisted the West could 'snap back' sanctions if Iran violated the agreement.

"It was the kind of careful balance that marks the deal: Allowing Iran to keep its facilities running, but under restrictions that . . .  it would take more than a year to produce a weapon’s worth of material."

This sounds pretty good to me -- and better than we were expecting.    Of course, Netanyahu was quick to denounce the agreement as threatening the survival of Israel.

And article on Slate.com adds further details.  The number of centrifuges will be reduced from about 19,000 to less than 1/3 of that number.  Iran will reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium by 97%, and ship all spent fuel out of the country.  Sanctions will be rolled back gradually after verification that Iran is fulfilling its commitment.

We have to let this work -- not only because it is the best way, by far, to deal with Iran, but because it will also be a boon to the cause of diplomatic solutions rather than relying only on military might.

Ralph