Validators of Iran Nuclear Deal
SUPPORT FOR THE IRAN NUCLEAR AGREEMENT BY HUNDREDS OF EXPERTS WORLDWIDE, AS WELL AS BY A MAJORITY OF AMERICAN JEWS: REFERENCES AND EXCERPTS
Norman Robbins, Aug. 23, 2015
See Americans for Peace Now website (a major reference for this document) for additional information and ongoing updates: https://peacenow.org/page.php?name=iran-deal-awaiting-news-from-vienna
PART ONE: SUPPORT FROM EXPERTS
- Military, intelligence, security and non-proliferation leaders
Israeli military/intelligence/security leaders
http://www.irandealfacts.org/content/validators
http://www.molad.org/images/upload/files/MoladAipacstatement.pdf
http://peacenow.org/entry.php?id=12886#.VdogbPlVhBc
https://peacenow.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/bluewhite.jpg
Ami Ayalon (former head of Shin Bet, the Israeli internal security service, and former chief of the Israeli navy): “When it comes to Iran’s nuclear capability, this [deal] is the best option”. “[If the deal is scuttled] Iran will escape sanctions, inspections will deteriorate, nuclear work will go on and we will lose on every front.”
Shlomo Brom (former director of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) strategic planning, and former national security advisor): “This agreement represents the best chance to make sure Iran never obtains a weapon.”
Israel Ziv (former IDF major general): “This agreement is the best among all other alternatives, and any military strike … would not have delayed even 20% of what the agreement will delay.”
Shemuel Meir (former IDF analyst, now at Jaffe Center for Strategic Studies in Tel Aviv) “The agreement contains important positive implications for Israel’s security. Above all, it prevents Iran’s emergence as a new nuclear-weapon state in the Middle East.”
Efraim Halevy (former Mossad (Israeli intelligence) Director): “Without an agreement, Iran will be free to act as it wishes, whereas the sanctions regime against it will crumble in any case.” “Iran made concessions on a long series of critical issues—the detailed discussion on its nuclear programs was distasteful to it, and severe restrictions for the next 10 to 15 years were imposed on it. In the Middle East, a decade is an eternity. Iran was also forced to agree to an invasive and unique monitoring regime, which is unparalleled around the world. The agreement enables inspections to be held even in sites in which the supreme leader, Khamenei, declared that he would not permit inspectors to enter, and a procedure was established—a complicated but clear procedure—that enables a forum in which the West has a clear majority to reinstate the sanctions even without the consent of Russia and China. And that is just a partial list of the concessions.”
Amram Mitzna (former head of IDF Operations and planning): “Nearly every day since the nuclear agreement with Iran was finalized, more Israeli generals and security chiefs have come forward with the same message: The deal is surprisingly good for Israel’s security. … I feel it is my duty to join my colleagues. …. as head of IDF operations and planning, I learned well the capabilities and also the limits of military power. And I saw firsthand the enormous security benefits that can be achieved through diplomacy. I must state loud and clear — this agreement is better than no agreement and must not be rejected. If implemented, it will block all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon, and extend the time Iran would need to build a bomb from only two months to more than a year.”
Council on Peace and Security (Israeli organization of former military & intelligence officials)
http://www.peace-security.org.il/page/95/The-position-of-the-Council-on-the-Agreement-with-Iran.aspx
“The agreement is expected to lengthen the break-out time to 12 months for at least 10 years.”
Some 60 former Israeli military/intelligence leaders
https://peacenow.org/WP/wp-content/uploads/bluewhite.jpg
A signed ad, urging the Israeli government to recognize that the agreement is “an accomplished fact” and to focus on cooperation for implementation.
Recent Israeli intelligence report on nuclear deal, according to J. J. Goldberg article in The Forward http://forward.com/opinion/319515/the-game-changing-iran-report-that-wasnt/#ixzz3jZKrIIeo
“The deal offers Israel both advantages and disadvantages…The disadvantages are not too calamitous for anyone to cope with them. For an outside observer, the logical conclusion is that Netanyahu’s fiery confrontation with the Obama administration is unnecessary.”
36 retired U.S. Generals and Admirals
The agreement is “the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons …There is no better option to prevent an Iranian nuclear weapon… Military action would be less effective than the deal, assuming it is fully implemented.”
U.S. National Security experts: 29 top U.S. Scientists (including nuclear experts) http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/08/world/document-iranletteraug2015.html
“This is an innovative agreement, with much more stringent constraints than any previously negotiated non-proliferation framework… Some have expressed concern that the deal will free Iran to develop nuclear weapons without constraint after ten years. In contrast we find that the deal includes important long-term verification procedures that last until 2040, and others that last indefinitely under the NPT and its Additional Protocol.”
75 U.S. non-proliferation experts
http://www.armscontrol.org/files/Nonpro_Specialist_statement_on_Iran_Deal_Aug_2015.pdf
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is a strong, long-term, and verifiable agreement that will be a net-plus for international nuclear nonproliferation efforts… The JCPOA is effectively verifiable. The agreement will put in place a multi-layered monitoring regime across Iran’s entire nuclear supply chain…. Taken together, these rigorous limits and transparency measures will make it very likely that any future effort by Iran to pursue nuclear weapons, even a clandestine program, would be detected promptly, providing the opportunity to intervene decisively to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon ….the agreement will reduce the risk of a destabilizing nuclear competition in a troubled region …—and head off a catastrophic military conflict over Iran’s nuclear program.”
- Ambassadors and other diplomacy experts
Over 100 former US Ambassadors and diplomatic leaders
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/07/16/us/politics/document-american-ambassadors-letter.html
“The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with Iran stands as a landmark agreement in deterring the proliferation of nuclear weapons. If properly implemented, this comprehensive and rigorously negotiated agreement can be an effective instrument in arresting Iran’s nuclear program and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the volatile and vitally important region of the Middle East.” See also: https://www.scribd.com/doc/271988995/Statement-by-60-National-Security-Leaders-on-the-Announcement-of-a-Joint-Comprehensive-Plan-of-Action?ct=t%28%29&goal=0_efecee0f27-3c88171ef4-&utm_campaign=3c88171ef4-&utm_medium=email&utm_source=Congressional+Contacts&utm_term=0_efecee0f27-3c88171ef4-
Three former Undersecretaries of State, five former Ambassadors to Israel
http://www.scribd.com/doc/272679222/Letter-on-JCPOA-From-Former-Und-Sec-State-and-US-Ambs-to-Israel-to-House-Leadership “This landmark agreement removes the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and to Israel specifically … it does meet all of the key goals required for high confidence that, should Iran violate it and move toward building a nuclear weapon, the international intelligence community and the IAEA will discover Iran’s actions early and in sufficient time for strong countermeasures to be taken to stop Iran’s activities… The consequences of rejection are grave: U.S. responsibility for the collapse of the agreement; the inability to hold the P5+1 together for the essential international sanctions regime and such other action that may be required against Iran; and the real possibility that Iran will decide to build a nuclear weapon under significantly reduced or no inspections.”
Over 70 former EU ambassadors and political leaders http://www.europeanleadershipnetwork.org/members-of-the-european-leadership-network-express-support-for-the-nuclear-agreement-with-iran_2969.html
“We believe that this agreement provides a sound framework for ending the crisis over the Iranian nuclear program and a foundation for re-integrating Iran into the international community… The agreement places long-term, verifiable constraints on the development of technologies and construction of facilities which could be used by Iran to produce weapons-grade materials … The agreement will open the way for economic engagement with Iran, which should strengthen internally the position of the pragmatic proponents of peaceful co-existence and cooperation with outside partners …The agreement may open the way for wider cooperation on pressing regional and international security issues, including the fight against ISIS, ending the Syrian civil war, guaranteeing a stable future for Afghanistan, and the fight against narcotics production and smuggling.”
Diplomats from P5+1 nations
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/ambassadors-press-case-for-iran-nuclear-deal-in-congress/2015/08/06/9f46cae8-3c70-11e5-b3ac-8a79bc44e5e2_story.html Diplomats from the five countries that negotiated the Iran nuclear agreement with the United States have launched a coordinated lobbying effort on Capitol Hill, with some warning lawmakers that if Congress scuttles the accord, there may be no chance of resuming talks to get a better deal. “The option of going back to negotiations is close to zero,” [said] Philipp Ackermann, the deputy ambassador of the German Embassy …. Every diplomat who attended the briefing said international sanctions would collapse, Iran would ramp up its nuclear program and there would be no possibility of getting Iran back to the negotiating table…Diplomats also told senators that many European nations will not go along with continued sanctions if the deal is derailed by Congress.”
Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov on “secondary” US sanctions if deal collapses
“ … Lavrov was forceful in asserting Moscow’s commitment to its ties with Tehran and Russia’s rejection of unilateral US sanctions, including the so-called secondary sanctions, those affecting firms outside the United States that deal with Iran.…[Lavrov] vigorously asserted Moscow’s right to pursue closer trade relations with Iran regardless of US sanctions. Questioned about US scrutiny of Russian-Iranian agreements and possible sanctions, Lavrov said, “The US sanctions are none of our concern. We comply only with our international obligations. In regard to penalties, they include, above all, the ones approved by the UN Security Council’s resolutions. We have no interest in any third-party restrictions …”
PART TWO: SUPPORT FROM AMERICAN JEWS
Most Inclusive poll http://www.jewishjournal.com/nation/article/new_poll_u.s._jews_support_iran_deal_despite_misgivings and https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/on-the-iran-deal-american-jewish-leaders-dont-speak-for-all-jews/2015/08/14/988e577e-41d5-11e5-846d-02792f854297_story.html?hpid=z3
In the only post-agreement poll to include non-religious as well as religious American Jews, 49% supported and 31% opposed the deal. “… asked whether Congress should “vote to approve or oppose the deal, Jews lean heavily toward approval, 53 percent for versus 35 percent against.”
340 Rabbis Support Nuclear Deal
“… we are deeply concerned with the impression that the leadership of the American Jewish community is united in opposition to the agreement. We, along with many other Jewish leaders, fully support this historic nuclear accord.”
26 prominent American Jewish leaders support agreement http://time.com/4004106/jewish-leaders-iran/ “While not perfect, this deal is the best available option to halt Iran’s nuclear weapons program.” Signatories include three former chairs of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, 10 former heads of many of its biggest member organizations (including one former AIPAC Executive Director) and three former members of Congress.
