[Peace-discuss] The Hill: Warren calls Iran deal 'our best promise in the region'

[Robert Naiman]

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/237922-warren-calls-iran-deal-our-best-promise-in-the-region

April 04, 2015, 01:22 pm
Warren calls Iran deal 'our best promise in the region'
By Mark Hensch

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Friday called this week’s tentative pact
over Iran’s nuclear weapons research the best chance for lasting peace in
the Middle East.

“Finding a negotiated solution, something that works, something that
doesn’t involve trusting, something that involves verifying that Iran is
not moving toward developing a nuclear weapon, that is our best promise in
the region,” Warren said on Friday’s debut episode of “The HuffPost Show.”

“I want to see what comes out in the details,” she continued. “You know, we
all know the devil is in the details.”

“But, you know, there are some good signs at this point that there may be a
negotiated solution here,” Warren concluded.

The lawmaker’s remarks follow Thursday’s announcement of a potential
framework for a final accord. The deal would ease economic sanctions on
Iran in exchange for greater regulation of its atomic energy program.

Warren also expressed skepticism of the outlined deal’s critics. She added
she was “cautiously hopeful” any flaws in the agreement would get corrected
by the final deal’s June 30 deadline.

“What’s the alternative here?” Warren asked of the deal’s opponents. “What
have you got as the next best move?”

The Obama administration unveiled its draft of the landmark bargain
Thursday. President Obama hailed it as a “historic” moment in a Rose Garden
address.

“Iran is not going to simply dismantle its program because we demand it,”
he said in Washington. “That’s not how this world works.”

Secretary of State John Kerry spearheaded U.S. efforts at the bargaining
table with Tehran. His success Thursday caps off 18 months of tense
negotiations between the two sides.

Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia aided Kerry during marathon
talks this week in Lausanne, Switzerland. The so-called P5+1 group met with
Iranian representatives on behalf of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Tehran’s
supreme leader.

President Obama has long argued diplomacy is the best option for preventing
an Iran with nuclear arms. His critics say Khamenei’s regime is too
untrustworthy for a valid deal.

Iran has tentatively permitted many new regulations concerning its nuclear
energy capabilities as part of the accord.

The Islamic republic has promised it will permit more frequent nuclear
inspections and accepted caps on its centrifuge and uranium supplies. In
exchange, costly sanctions on its economy will be gradually removed by the
international community.

===

Robert Naiman
Policy Director
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org
(202) 448-2898 x1
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