Trump has consistently rejected the Iran nuclear deal during the Obama administration. How is his agreement different?
In May 2018, US President Donald Trump announced that the United States would withdraw from Obama's “disastrous” term. The Iran nuclear deal was designed to prevent the country from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
I The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed by Iran, the US, Russia, China, France, Britain and Germany in 2015, were a common target for Trump, who earlier this week described it on his Truth Social platform as “one of the worst and stupidest deals” the US has ever signed.
The White House website during the Trump administration said that at best, the The JCPOA has slowed Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons and Washington will be reinstating sanctions lifted as a result of the deal.
It also said The JCPOA failed to address the threat of Iran's ballistic missile program and “foolishly provided the Iranian regime with cash and access to the international financial system for trade and investment.”
But the memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed by Trump on Wednesday to end the war against Iran has raised questions about possible parallels between the two deals.
At first glance, it's hard to compare the two. The JCPOA was a detailed 159-page document that was published over 18 months between many parties and was considered a binding agreement. The MOU is a 14-point agreement, signed between the US and Iran, which commits to reaching a final agreement 60 days after signing.
Daniel B. Shapiro, former U.S. ambassador to Israel and top Pentagon official during the Biden administration, wrote that while Trump is focused on comparing his deal with the JCPOA, “we are far from being able to make that comparison.”
“Trump's deal could end up being stronger or weaker than that deal,” he wrote on the Atlantic Council's website, where a unique partner through its Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative.
However, Shapiro noted that in In some ways, the Trump deal and the JCPOA are already similar, because they did not address Iran's missiles, Tehran's proxy power network or regime collapse.
But like the JCPOA, there are “a number of sanctions that will strengthen the regime and pour into Iran's missile program and proxy network,” he wrote.
Here's how the two deals compare:
Iran's nuclear ambitions
Both agreements include similar language regarding commitments from Iran not to pursue nuclear weapons.
I The JCPOA stated that “Iran “guarantees that under no circumstances will Iran seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons,” while the MOU states that Iran “guarantees that it will not acquire or develop nuclear weapons.”
But the JCPOA included specific details on the enrichment of cleanrooms and uranium stockpiles. For example, Iran agreed to 3.67 percent enrichment for 15 years, less than the 90 percent purity required to produce a weapon.
Iran also admitted that its stockpile of enriched uranium was 300 kilograms, down from the largest amount it had previously produced.
Excess material was reduced to natural uranium levels or exported. That reduced Iran's stockpile by 98 percent, according to the United States.
The MOU, however, does not provide such details about the fate of enriched uranium but states that both sides have agreed to resolve these issues.
On Thursday, US Vice President JD Vance told reporters that one major difference between the MOU and the JCPOA is that the latter agreement allows for enrichment.
“Ours will not. [The] Obama's deal allowed for the collection of weapons-grade materials. Ours actually leads to the destruction of that lot of riches,” he said.
However, Robert Pape, a professor of political science at the University of Chicago who studies military strategy and international security, said iinterview with CBC News that if Trump believes the JCPOA is a guide to Iran's nuclear weapon, the MOU is “a highway.”
That's in part because at the start of the war on February 28, Iran had 440.9 kilograms of uranium enriched to 60 percent purity.
“Therefore, there are many things in the country that we are talking about [than in 2015]and this [MOU] it does not make promises anywhere that Iran will leave its country,” said Pope.
Another big issue, he said, is that there is nothing in the new agreement about the ongoing verification process.
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The currency of Iran
Although not part of the JCPOA, critics of that deal have linked it to the $1.7 billion payment to Iran by the Obama administration.
That was the resolution of a decades-long dispute between the US and Iran. The first $400 million worth of euros, Swiss francs and other foreign currencies were delivered on pallets in Jan. 17, 2016, the same day Tehran released five American prisoners.
“Obama's deal gave them over a billion dollars in American money,” Vance said Thursday. “This deal gives them zero dollars in American money.”
However, the MOU states that the US will commit to regional partners to “develop a definitive, fully agreed upon plan of at least $300 billion for the reconstruction and economic development” of Iran.
Pape of the University of Chicago suggested that that would be a problem as well because it means that the Gulf countries will be “united and united” with Iran and create a “sphere of influence” for the government.
But Vance emphasized that Iran will only get access to these funds if it “fully complies and changes its behavior.”
Relief from penalties
Under the JCPOA, the US, the European Union and the United Nations lifted sanctions on Iran's oil, gas, petrochemical, banking, shipping and automobile industries, a move criticized by the Trump administration.
But the MOU also says the US will commit ending all kinds of sanctions against Iran, including United Nations Security Council resolutions, in a plan agreed as part of the final deal.
Also, the MOU states that it will issue a waiver on the export of Iranian crude oil and gasoline, something that can't generating more than $60 billion a year, the Wall Street Journal reports.
