US/Iran Nuclear Deal

Press Statement 14 July 2015      

The US/Iran Nuclear Deal has been welcomed by the Peace and Neutrality Alliance (PANA). PANA, which has campaigned actively on the Iran nuclear issue, strongly welcomes the US-Iran nuclear deal.

Roger Cole, Chair of PANA, and David Morrison, Research Officer of PANA said:

"PANA welcomes the nuclear deal that has been reached in Vienna between the US and Iran. It was made possible because in 2013 the US reversed its policy and accepted that Iran would continue to have uranium enrichment facilities on its own soil, which is its "inalienable right" under Article IV (1) of the [nuclear] Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

For years, the US and its allies, including Ireland, attempted to coerce Iran into ceasing enrichment by applying ferocious economic sanctions on Iran in an attempt to force it to do so, damaging the well-being of millions of Iranian civilians in the process. Had the US accepted the right of Iran to enrichment, there would have been no dispute. Now, although the US has conceded the principle, it is insisting that for the next 10 to 15 years Iran must agree to severe restrictions under threat of
renewed and intensified sanctions. There is no justification for imposing such restrictions on a sovereign state. As a 'non-nuclear weapons' party to the NPT, Iran is forbidden to acquire nuclear weapons, but the NPT places no limits on civilian nuclear activity, providing it is under International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) supervision.

Roger Cole, Chair of PANA TEL: + 353 (0)87-26 11 597.


David Morrison, Research Officer TEL: + 44(0) 7949 925 938.