After Secretary of State John Kerry announced an historic agreement to prevent Iran from creating a nuclear bomb, the airways heated up, unfortunately with more heat than light. This agreement represents many months of challenging, principled diplomacy with the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia, Germany and Iran. At every turn the key component was the demand that the US and allies would verify that Iran was reducing its nuclear stockpile. One could hear in the distance President Reagan’s voice, “Trust and then verify!”

While there is never a perfect agreement, my hope is that politicians on both sides of the aisle will read the agreement, noting the many strengths and choose diplomacy. The strengths are many:
-International inspectors will monitor Iran’s nuclear program at every single stage.
-It would increase the time it would take Iran to acquire enough material for one bomb from 2-3
months to at least 1 year.
-It would reduce Iran’s stockpile of enriched uranium.
-The agreement would prevent Iran from producing weapons grade plutonium.
-Iran’s nuclear activities would be tracked with robust transparency and inspections.

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