Mabadi ,S: Repeating History?
Last days of March 2015 and first days of April 2015 will be the touchstone of many changes for some but not all. Finally on April 2 2015 Iranian prime minister in Switzerland declared Iranian nuclear negotiation team has reached to a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) with 5+1. A lot of people are happy for Iran to be able to put an end to this frustrating negotiation resulting into opening new doors to the west. One of the questions around this negotiation could be: on what the parties (Iran and 5+1) has negotiated? In another word what each side of this agreement bought and sold? The answer can be found simply in text of agreement. One does not need to be a law student or political science student to understand it but for sure she/he needs to know English at least at basic level to find real words of the text and compare with Persian (or other languages) to make sure that Persian translation released by government matches the English one. As a principle we know that in any agreement of any kind, commercial and non-commercial, the negotiator sides or parties will negotiate and bargain their interests. In this process they will quit some interests to gain other ones that more comply with their fundamental interest or are of higher importance for them. As one read and repeat the JCPOA between Iran and 5+1 the document is full of Iranian obligations which Iranian government must realize them. In contrary, at the end of the text there is a short part which talks about sanctions. The sanctions imposed on Iran by United Nations Security Council, United States and European Union are the most declared parts Iran planed to get rid of them and with this objective it entered into the process of negotiation. The 5+1 wanted an Iran without uncontrollable and independent nuclear power and Iran wanted all sanctions to be vanished. This is what was the most expected from the negotiation process. But after reading the English text of the JCPOA the agreement looks like an agreement which one side has forced another one to sign; something like Gulestan and Turkmanchai treaties between Iran (Persia) and Tzarian Russia. On October 24 1813 after failure of Persian (Qajar) in war against Russian Empire by signing of Gulestan treaty some rich and important parts of the North West of Iran became part of the Russian Empire. The matter here is not angriness of this separation instead the issue is forcing Persian government to leave the land that is under its control and jurisdiction by military occupation and bullying; the same of what happened later in Turkmanchai treaty. The Turkmanchai (or Turkemanchay) treaty had been planned with the same goal and forced by the same way on February 21 1828. Both treaties are known as the most shameful treaties in Iranian history. By these two treaties some parts of Iranian territory separated from Iran and even more some conditions imposed on Iran by Russian Empire. Although they were not only one of their kind, conditions they forced and the way they are made convert them the worst Iranian treaty ever made. (For information on these two treaties: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Iran/golestan.htm, http://www.cais-soas.com/ CAIS/Iran/torkmanchai.htm ). The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) obliges Iran to bunch of obligations and in reality recognizes right of the 5+1 to control Iranian nuclear plan and decide on nuclear behaviour of Iran. Obligation after obligation comes as going down reading the text of the agreement. All obligations are the ones which before looked like impossible to negotiate. By this agreement Iran is unable to control independently its nuclear movements and power. A selection from the text to complete the ceremony: •
Iran has agreed to reduce by approximately two-thirds its installed centrifuges. Iran will go from having about
19,000 installed today to 6,104 installed under the deal, with only 5,060 of these enriching uranium for 10 years. All 6,104 centrifuges will be IR-1s, Iran’s first-generation centrifuge. •
Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium over 3.67 percent for at least 15 years.
•
Iran has agreed to reduce its current stockpile of about 10,000 kg of low-enriched uranium (LEU) to 300 kg of 3.67
percent LEU for 15 years. •
Iran has agreed to not enrich uranium at its Fordow facility for at least 15 years.
•
Iran has agreed to convert its Fordow facility so that it is used for peaceful purposes only – into a nuclear, physics,
technology, research center. •
Iran has agreed to not conduct research and development associated with uranium enrichment at Fordow for
8 • Contacto Global,4 pp.06-09 ,2015 ISSN: 2215-3578