Iran’s Nuclear ‘Obligations’ Are All Voluntary

By Mark Langfan, INN

Last week President Barack Obama churlishly scolded his Iran-Nuclear-Deal critics, exhorting them to read the Iran Nuclear agreement before they criticize it.  Fortunately, one doesn’t have to read far into the 159 pages of diplomatic wordiness, or be a nuclear physicist or rocket scientist to understand the extent of Obama’s security fraud against the United States and the free world.

In fact one only has to read the first operative paragraph on page 7 of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), announced on July 14, 2015, but not actually signed by any of the parties (including Iran) to realize that Iran is not even contractually “signed” on the JCPOA in contrast to other Nuclear Arms treaties, such as START.  Reading the first paragraph, one quickly realizes that all of what Obama piously claims to be Iran’s Nuclear ‘obligations’ under the JCPOA are actually entirely voluntary measures and not obligatory.  So, under the JCPOA, Iran is not actually obligated to do anything, meaning that Iran can never be in “violation” of JCPOA because all of Iran’s requirements are voluntary.

But don’t believe me, let’s read the first operative paragraph on page 7:

“Iran and E3/EU+3 will take the following voluntary measures within the timeframe as detailed in this JCPOA and its Annexes.

NUCLEAR

A. ENRICHMENT, ENRICHMENT R&D, STOCKPILES

1. Iran’s long term plan includes certain agreed limitations on all uranium enrichment and uranium enrichment-related activities including certain limitations on specific research and development (R&D) activities for the first 8 years, to be followed by gradual evolution, at a reasonable pace, to the next stage of its enrichment activities for exclusively peaceful purposes, as described in Annex I. Iran will abide by its voluntary commitments, as expressed in its own long-term enrichment and enrichment R&D plan to be submitted as part of the initial declaration for the Additional Protocol to Iran’s Safeguards Agreement.”  (Bold added.)

First, the sentence leading into the first paragraph explicitly says the rest of the JCPOA is merely “voluntary measures.”  And despite Iran’s actions being voluntary, Obama is immediately, “voluntarily,” and unilaterally dropping all the sanctions in return for Iran’s “voluntary” future compliance to a voluntary document?  Didn’t Obama, the Harvard Law School grad, Editor-in-Chief of the Harvard Law Review, understand from this language that the entire JCPOA is merely “voluntary”?  Of course he did.

Next, under paragraph A.1 the JCPOA, everything that Iran may “voluntarily” follow, in the future, hangs on Iran’s “own long-term enrichment and enrichment R&D plan to be submitted” sometime in the undefined future.  Therefore, from the start of the first operative paragraph, the entire rest of the JCPOA is a legal nullity as far as Iran’s nuclear ‘obligations’  are concerned.

Iran isn’t obligated to do a single thing. Under the JCPOA, Iran is empowered to write its own “voluntary” plan at some indeterminate time in the future.  There is no deadline for Iran to submit its own plan.  And, then Iran may “voluntarily” comply with a plan which it writes by itself (most likely in Farsi, so no one will understand it.).”

In short, Obama has given the world’s leading state sponsor of terror a “get out of nuclear sanctions” jail pass along with $140 Billion dollars in return for its “voluntary” compliance with a future plan that it is empowered to write by itself.

Based on JCPOA’s “voluntary” language, Congress shouldn’t waste time on disapproving the JCPOA.  Instead, they should file articles of impeachment against President Obama who has committed treason, and “high crimes and misdemeanors” against the United States.