College Republicans: Lack of Iranian cooperation justifies Trump’s concerns

One of the major hot button topics circling mainstream media last week is President Donald Trump’s views on the Iranian deal. This deal, put into place by the Obama administration in 2015, was agreed to by Iran, the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, France, Germany and China. 

The terms of the deal allowed economic sanctions imposed on Iran to be dissolved if they agreed to limit their nuclear energy program, which would eventually result in Iran being able to create nuclear missiles. It was the hope of the Obama administration that, by creating this deal, Iran would cease its efforts in creating nuclear weapons. 

Many members of the Democratic Party applauded the deal, and even some Republicans have agreed.

However, now that the Obama presidency has ended, the Trump administration is attempting to head in a new direction with the Iranian deal. 

President Trump has hinted at the notion of eliminating the entire deal if Congress cannot make it more difficult for Iran to create nuclear weapons.

“In the event we are not able to reach a solution working with Congress and our allies, then the agreement will be terminated,” Trump said.

The president has even taken matters further by suggesting the Iranian government is violating “the letter and the spirit of the deal.” Trump is now requesting new sanctions be implemented on the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, which is one of the most powerful military and security organizations in the country. Doing so will result in a change to the Iranian deal, but will not eliminate it entirely. 

This completely justifies why President Trump wishes to see a stricter form of sanctions in regard to the Iranian deal; Iran has a difficult time following the sanctions that were set into place by the Obama administration. 

A lot has changed since 2015, and people from the Obama administration are starting to acknowledge this deal isn’t the best thing since sliced bread. An official who worked for President Obama by the name of Robert Einhorn has said, “Everyone recognizes that the deal is not ideal. I think President Obama would say the deal is not ideal.”

The Iranian deal has been in place for more than one year, but Iran continues to test ballistic missiles and will not allow anyone to inspect their military bases. This is deeply concerning because if the U.S. is not allowed to inspect a military base for materials such as uranium, and Iran is testing other types of missiles, this could result in nuclear proliferation.

This would, in turn, break the agreements of the Iranian deal, heightening tensions between Iran and the U.S.

River Kale is a member of the College Republicans. Contact him at [email protected].

College Democrats: Eliminating Iran nuclear deal a dangerous route

The 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal is a pact between seven countries and the European Union: Iran, United States, United Kingdom, Russian, France, Germany.

President Obama officiated the agreement on behalf of the United States. He stated then that through the deal, “Every path way to nuclear weapons are cut off.  … The deal is not built on trust, it is built on verification”

It is valid the deal is constructed on a founding notion of monitoring. Other specifics of the deal are built on sanctions and enrichment (Iran has agreed to lessen their nuclear stockpile by 98 percent). The EU agreed to terminate nuclear economic sanctions, and the United States is ceasing secondary nuclear economic sanctions.

President Donald Trump has expressed his distaste for the agreement and has expressed his wishes to back out of the deal. Although the deal is not a perfect solution, deals are built on compromise and collaboration.

Wishes of each party must be considered, and agreements must be made on the ground of the greater good.

Backing out of the deal could equate to unforeseen consequences. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said, “If the United States violates (the nuclear deal), the entire world will condemn America, not Iran.”

Federica Mogherini, the high representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said the deal cannot be renegotiated.

There is no such thing as a flawless collaboration — the best should always be strived for in terms of conditions and relations.

If the U.S. backs out of the Iran nuclear deal, relations will greatly be severed and decided upon conditions will be ambiguous.

Jessica Kukura is a member of the College Democrats. Contact her at [email protected].