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How Does the Iran Deal Measure Up? Final Text Versus Framework‎ Agreement

On July 14, after two years of negotiations and extended deadlines, the United States, its international partners, and Iran reached a final agreement on a deal that would limit Iran’s nuclear program. “Today after two years of negotiation the United States together with the international community has achieved something that decades of animosity has not,” said President Obama, “a comprehensive long-term deal with Iran that will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon.”

However, BPC analysis comparing the April framework agreement between Iran and the P5+1 to the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action reveals several worrying discrepancies. Most importantly, provisions in the final deal begin to lapse in as early as eight years, instead of 10 years as agreed to in the political framework. In other areas, such as Iran’s ability to experiment with and produce advanced centrifuges, access of International Atomic Energy Agency monitors, and the scope of sanctions relief, the deal appears to fall short of what parties previously appeared to agree to in April.

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