Iran nuclear agreement gets mixed reactions from Arizona lawmakers
Arizona lawmakers are providing mixed reactions toward the Iran nuclear agreement. But a research fellow from the Cato Institute says it #39;s unclear if a harder or stricter deal was even possible....
By: Cronkite News
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Iran nuclear agreement gets mixed reactions from Arizona lawmakers - Video
Story highlights Netanyahu says third option is "standing firm" to get a better deal Political sparring continues in U.S. over the deal with Iran
"I think there's a third alternative, and that is standing firm, ratcheting up the pressure until you get a better deal," Netanyahu told CNN's Jim Acosta Sunday on "State of the Union."
His comments come as Democrats and Republicans spar over the framework announced last week to lift Western sanctions on Iran in exchange for the country dropping from 19,000 to 5,060 active centrifuges, limiting its highly enriched uranium, and increasing inspections.
President Barack Obama endorsed the deal, saying it was better than the alternatives. But GOP contenders for the party's 2016 presidential nomination lambasted it, saying it gave Iran too much flexibility.
On Sunday, the sparring continued. One Senate Democrat said Netanyahu needs to "contain himself." And a top Republican said almost any of Obama's successors as president "could do better."
Netanyahu's most recent argument against the Iran nuclear deal was similar to the one he'd made in a March trip to Washington, when he addressed a joint session of Congress -- fueling a Republican push to have the deal sent to Congress before it's implemented.
"It does not roll back Iran's nuclear program. It keeps a vast nuclear infrastructure in place. Not a single centrifuge is destroyed. Not a single nuclear facility is shut down, including the underground facilities that they built illicitly. Thousands of centrifuges will keep spinning, enriching uranium," Netanyahu said Sunday. "That's a very bad deal. "
Netanyahu said Iran is a country of "congenital cheating" and that it can't be trusted to abide by the terms of the deal, which lasts 10 years with some provisions extending well beyond that.
He said his opposition has little to do with his frosty relationship with Obama.
"I think that we can have a legitimate difference of opinion on this, because I think Iran has shown to be completely distrustful," Netanyahu said.
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Netanyahu: More Iran options than 'this bad deal or war ...
Story highlights Iranian sports official: The ban will be lifted for some events in the coming year But he says "families are not interested in attending" some sports matches
But the situation appears set to improve in the coming months after a top Iranian sports official said that the ban will be lifted for some events.
A plan to allow "women and families" to enter sports stadiums will come into effect in the next year, Deputy Sports Minister Abdolhamid Ahmadi said Saturday, according to state-run media.
But it isn't clear exactly which games women will be able to attend.
Iranian supporters display a banner calling for an end to Iran's stadium ban on women during the Asian Cup quarterfinal in Canberra.
According to the state-run Press TV, Ahmadi said the restrictions would be lifted for indoor sports events. The rules won't change for all matches because some sports are mainly related to men and "families are not interested in attending" them, Press TV cited him as saying.
Iranian authorities imposed the ban on women attending men's sports events after the revolution, deeming that mixed crowds watching games together was un-Islamic.
During the ensuing decades, the crowds at soccer games, Iran's most popular sport, have been all male.
Iranian women were briefly permitted to attend volleyball matches under the moderate President Mohammad Khatami, but the ban was reinstated in 2005 after the more hard-line Mahmoud Ahmadinejad came to power.
The Iranian government has come under pressure from international sports officials over the restrictions.
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Iran to ease ban on women at sports events
WASHINGTON The Iran nuclear deal reached Thursday may only be an outline, with much of the most difficult work still to come before a June 30 deadline. But already some experts are seeing in the deal a potential template for how to block the emergence of a new generation of nuclear-armed powers.
Galloping electricity needs and intensifying international efforts to cut carbon emissions are prompting more countries to add nuclear power plants. That makes the need for toughened international restrictions on supposedly peaceful civilian nuclear programs urgent, some say.
In the case of Iran, the international community moved aggressively to prevent a civilian program from becoming something more dangerous. But the situation has shown how other countries could take the same path if not suitably monitored.
As early as this month, world powers could begin to consider whether the Iran deal, which is shaping up to be the most stringent international plan ever for limiting a civilian nuclear program, should become part of a new global standard.
The Iran framework agreements provisions seem to reflect a growing appreciation by officials of just how potentially useful peaceful nuclear activities and materials can be for making bombs, says Henry Sokolski, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center in Washington. Why wouldnt we want to make these rules apply generally and become an international standard?
Negotiators must still lay down specifics and clarify ambiguous language, but the Iran framework agreement sets strict limits on uranium enrichment, bans plutonium reprocessing, and establishes an intrusive international inspections regime.
An opportunity to gauge interest in extending some of these restrictions globally will come later this month at the month-long review conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, or NPT.
The conference could be the right moment, some diplomats say, for world leaders to test the global appetite for making some of the Iran deals tough provisions a model for international restraints. If nothing else, some say, world leaders need to consider how the Iran crisis underscores weaknesses in the nonproliferation regime. Iran, after all, was a signatory of the NPT.
The Iranian problem has exposed significant vulnerabilities under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, especially the absence of a clear divide between civilian and nuclear programs, wrote William Burns, a former deputy secretary of State and now president of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, in a New York Times opinion piece Friday.
As more countries look to nuclear technologies to meet energy needs, the international community will need to build a sturdy firewall between peaceful and military nuclear uses, said Mr. Burns. Measures of the Iran agreement could be seen as useful future benchmarks.
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How Iran deal could help head off a future nuclear crisis (+video)
Iran must commit to recognizing Israel #39;s right to exist in final deal - Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says powers negotiating with Iran over a final nuclear accord must add a new demand that Tehran recognise Israel #39;s right to exist. Rough Cut (no reporter...
By: Reuters
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Iran must commit to recognizing Israel's right to exist in final deal - Netanyahu - Video