By: Lori
Lowenthal Marcus
Iran’s
foreign minister said that a fact sheet distributed by the White House
mischaracterized what Iran agreed to do in the Interim Nuclear Agreement.
Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s foreign minister, told CNN’s chief national
security correspondent that the Obama administration “tried to create a false
impression” by claiming that Iran had agreed to “dismantle” the machinery that
enabled it to enrich uranium above five percent.
The Iranian
diplomat said that he was “not interested” in playing verbal games, while the
White House was engaged in “underplaying its concessions and overplaying
Iranian commitments.” “We should all stick to what we all agreed on,” Zarif
exclaimed. Zarif insisted during Wednesday’s interview that Iran “did not agree
to dismantle anything.”
The White
House distributed a fact sheet in November, following the initial announcement
of an Interim Agreement between the P5+1 and Iran regarding Iran’s nuclear
program. That fact sheet represented that the government of Iran had to halt
all enrichment above 5%, dilute its stockpile of uranium that was enriched
above 20 percent, and “dismantle the technical connections required to enrich
above 5 percent.” “I challenge you to go through the entire text of the
Agreement to find one single word that resembles ‘dismantling’,” Zarif
exclaimed.
Of course, if Iran does not dismantle
the machinery and connections it has made to process uranium to weapons grade
enrichment levels, it can immediately return to high-level enrichment at any
time, in the absence of an agreement or otherwise. Whether there was a
misunderstanding or if the Iranians have shifted their position, the shocking
interview should provide significant weight to the sanctions bill that is
currently in the Senate.
That bill,
known as the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act, has strong backing in the Senate,
even amongst Democrats, but the Administration has been lobbying heavily
against it. Cong. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (Fla-23)(D) is one of the
Administration’s biggest cheerleaders against the sanctions bill.
However, in just about every speech she
gave on behalf of President Obama during the fall campaign, she repeatedly
emphasized the enormous significance of “this Administration” having passed the
“most biting sanctions ever” on Iran. print tell a friend About the Author: Lori
Lowenthal Marcus is the US correspondent for The Jewish Press. She is a
recovered lawyer who previously practiced First Amendment law and taught in
Philadelphia-area graduate and law schools.
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/white-house-misstated-irans-position-we-wont-dismantle-anything/2014/01/23/
Read more at: http://www.jewishpress.com/news/white-house-misstated-irans-position-we-wont-dismantle-anything/2014/01/23/
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