Senate Sabotages Iran Nuclear Negotiations

You may not be aware that the Constitution gives the authority to negotiate treats solely to the President of the United States.  The Senate’s role is to pass (or not) a “resolution of ratification” for the treaty with a 2/3 majority.  The Senate’s action yesterday by 47 Republican Senators interfering with negotiations on Iran’s nuclear development activities is not only unprecedented and egregious but also counter productive.  It effectively aligns the US Senate with those in Iran who also do not want a treat, it undermines US negotiations and US allies (Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia) who are also involved in the negotiations.

            Those 47 Senators apparently have forgotten that in negotiations there is give and take.  They apparently believe that all US demands should be met without regard for Iran’s position.  Nobody wants Iran to develop nuclear weapons (except maybe Iran).  However to tell Iran they can have no nuclear power capacity at all is like saying “You cannot have electricity”.  Nuclear power can be used peacefully to produce electricity.  The uranium involved in power generation though is significantly different than that involved in bombs.  Uranium in bombs is highly enriched; the uranium in power plant is much less enriched.  That means that naturally occurring uranium consisting almost entirely of Uranium 238 (U238), must be replaced with U235, a different isotope.  Uranium 235 can fission (break apart) and release a lot of energy, U238 cannot.  To make a bomb, the uranium must be almost entirely U235.  Replacing U238 with U235 involves using high speed centrifuges that spin at tremendous speeds.  This process can separate the uranium isotopes and it is possible to gather U235 in preference to U238.  It requires many centrifuges to do this because the separation is performed in stages, each stage having a slightly higher concentration of U235.  You can therefore determine the amount of enrichment by counting the number of centrifuges involved in the process.  Also at the end of enrichment, you can measure the amount of U235 in the end product.  So it is very possible to determine Iran’s level of enrichment by thoroughly inspecting the enrichment process.  I suspect that this inspection process is the crux of the negotiations going now, Iran does not like US inspections.

            But look at the alternatives to negotiating an agreement.  If we negotiate an agreement, Iran will be prevented from developing nuclear weapons.  If we don’t reach an agreement, Iran could continue to enrich uranium which could product a bomb.  If they pursue a bomb, US reactions would be limited largely to some sort of military action.  This puts not just the US, but all of our allies and the entire world closer to a real all-out war.  Fighting three wars at once, ISIS, Afghanistan and Iran, all at once is not what we need.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Democracy-on-the-Edge/1414967145465935.