New York, NY - Today,
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) announced the first in a series of periodic updates on the Geneva Interim Agreement. One month into the implementation of the agreement, Iran is enjoying substantial economic benefits from sanctions relief, while still developing its nuclear program. Since the signing of the accord, UANI has been maintaining its Geneva Interim Agreement Tracker (
www.uani.com/geneva) to record these developments.
The stated goal of the Joint Plan of Action (JPA) is to reach a comprehensive solution that would ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program. In addition, under the terms of the JPA Iran would receive sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear program. Since the JPA was signed however, the two sides are articulating starkly different visions of such a comprehensive solution, and the size and scale of the sanctions relief has been disproportionate to Iran's limited nuclear concessions, as represented by the following key indicators:
Sanctions Relief By The Numbers
up 73%
|
|
up 24%
|
Increase in the value of the Iranian rial since Rouhani's election.
|
up 77%
|
Increase in the value of the Tehran Stock Exchange index since Rouhani's election.
|
down 15%
|
|
up 2%
|
|
Iran's Continued Nuclear Progress
Iran continues to:
- Develop new, advanced centrifuges. On February 10, head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization Ali Akbar Salehi said Iran is developing "a new type of centrifuge '15 times more powerful' than those currently being used to enrich uranium."
Final Agreement Negotiations
The purported goal of the interim agreement is to pave the way for a final agreement. Thus far, the two sides have articulated deeply conflicting visions at odds with each other.
Issue
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USA
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Iran
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Arak Heavy Water Reactor
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"They do not need a heavy-water reactor at Arak in order to have a peaceful nuclear program." - Under Secretary for Political Affairs Wendy Sherman ( Feb. 4) |
"It is now too late to change it into a light-water prototype, as some have suggested in the west. This 'generous' offer should have been made much earlier. Iran has made a large investment in the Arak reactor." - Press Officer at Iran's Mission to the UN, Hamid Babaei ( Feb. 12)
|
Fordow Fortified Underground Enrichment Facility
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"Where Fordow is concerned, as I said in my testimony, we see no reason for Fordow to remain an enrichment facility." - Under Secretary Wendy Sherman ( Feb. 4) |
"Ms Sherman should stick to the reality and stop speaking of impossible things even if it is only for domestic consumption ... since reaching a solution can be hindered by such words." - Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif ( Feb. 5) |
Advanced Centrifuges
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"They don't need some of the advanced centrifuges that they currently possess in order to have a limited, peaceful nuclear program." - President Barack Obama ( Dec. 7) |
"Iran will not accept any limitation on its right to replace centrifuges with more advanced machines." - Member of Iran's Nuclear Negotiations Team ( Feb. 18) |
Size of Nuclear Program
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"Iran does not need nearly the centrifuge capacity that it has today... As part of a comprehensive solution, we will require that Iran dismantle a significant amount of its nuclear infrastructure related to uranium enrichment." - Press Secretary Jay Carney ( Jan. 23) |
"In the context of R&D and peaceful nuclear technology, we will not accept any limitations... Not under any circumstances" will Iran destroy any of its existing centrifuges. - President Hassan Rouhani ( Jan. 22) |
Ballistic Missile Program
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"They have to deal with matters related to their ballistic missile program that are included in the United Nations Security Council resolution that is part of explicitly, according to the Joint Plan of Action, the comprehensive resolution negotiation." - Press Secretary Jay Carney ( Feb. 18) |
"Defense matters [i.e. Iran's ballistic missile program] are non-negotiable and are one of our red lines." - Deputy Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi ( Feb. 9) |
Human Rights Under Rouhani
Since Rouhani took office, the pace of executions has increased in what can only be described as an "execution binge". In Rouhani's first 200 days in office, there have been nearly 500 executions.
Executions
|
2013
|
|
2014
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TOTAL
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483+
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Said UANI CEO, Ambassador Mark D. Wallace:
One month into the implementation of the JPA, as the two sides continue to articulate starkly different interpretations of a final and comprehensive agreement, Iran's economy is blossoming while the regime continues work on its industrial-scale nuclear program that clearly has no legitimate civilian purpose.
The Obama administration has stated that sanctions relief would only amount to $6 to $7 billion, however the increase in oil sales alone has already been worth over $4 billion in new revenue for the regime. If Iran's oil exports remain constant from now until July, the regime will have gained more than $14 billion in additional revenue post-Geneva, not including the various other economic benefits from sanctions-easing related to areas such as the petrochemicals, automotive and precious metals sectors.
Iran is clearly content with these developments. The Obama administration must hold Iran to the six-month deadline for reaching a final nuclear accord, as it has pledged. Iran must clearly hear from the U.S. and its allies that if no final nuclear accord is reached at the end of the six months, it will face the most crippling sanctions in history--culminating with a full economic blockade.
Click
here to view UANI's Geneva Interim Agreement Tracker.
Click
here to view UANI's Rouhani Accountability Tracker.
Click
here to view UANI's resource on "Rouhani's Record in Office."
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