Iran nuclear crisis Six key points. Image copyright. Reuters. Iran has agreed a long term deal on its nuclear programme with six world powers, capping 1. Were at a pivotal moment. The long running dispute has widened divisions between Iran and the West, but a comprehensive accord might bring down diplomatic barriers. Multiple deadlines were missed as negotiators sought to build on an interim deal struck in November 2. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who promised to end his countrys international isolation. US President Barack Obama said the agreement announced in Vienna marked one more chapter in our pursuit of a safer, more helpful and more hopeful world. Image copyright. Getty Images. Under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action JCPOA, Iran has agreed with the so called P51 the US, UK, France, Russia, China and Germany to significantly limit its sensitive nuclear activities. Iran will reduce its stockpile of enriched uranium used to make reactor fuel, but also nuclear weapons by 9. It will also cut by two thirds to 5,0. Iran has been a nonnuclear weapon state party to the Treaty on the NonProliferation of Nuclear Weapons NPT since 1970, and has an advanced nuclear program that. The Emerging Arab Response to Irans Unabated Nuclear Program. The Emerging Arab Response to Irans. Iran has doggedly pushed on with its nuclear program in. Nuclear weapons and Israel Israel Nuclear program start date 19481949. The first extensive details of the weapons program came in October 5, 1986. On the surface, it would seem as though Arab leaders would support the Iranian nuclear program. After all, Iran is a fellow Muslim state in close geographic proximity. Sanctions imposed the UN, US and EU will be lifted as Irans compliance is verified by the the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, and more than 1. Should any aspect of the deal be violated, the sanctions will snap back. Guide to the Iran nuclear deal. Irans Nucluer Program' title='Irans Nucluer Program' />Its about fear and distrust. Image copyright. APYears of distrust and suspicion have made the crisis over Irans nuclear programme hard to solve. The P51 want to be satisfied that Iran wont have the capacity to make a bomb in less than a year if it decided to the so called break out time. Iran for its part says it does not want a nuclear bomb, but insists on exercising its right to run a peaceful nuclear industry. It also wants crippling international sanctions lifted quickly. Many countries do not believe Irans declared intentions, and there is fear of what Iran might do with a nuclear weapon, and of the prospect of a nuclear arms race in one of the worlds most unstable regions. Iranian ambitions breed scepticism and fear in Israel. Lebanon pivotal to Irans reach across Middle East. Lots of countries have nuclear weapons, but Irans case is different. It looks to some like Iran has been singled out after all, many countries have nuclear programmes and at least eight possess nuclear weapons. The reason why such attention has been focused on Iran is because it hid a clandestine uranium enrichment programme for 1. Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty NPT. As a result, the UN Security Council passed six resolutions requiring Iran to stop enriching uranium, a process that can ultimately produce the fissile material for a nuclear weapon. Iran agreed to suspend parts of its nuclear programme under a temporary agreement in November 2. The international community was also worried about unanswered questions surrounding possible military dimensions to Irans nuclear programme. The main issues surrounding Irans nuclear programme and the international reaction to it. Six world powers agreed to lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for Iranian limits on its nuclear program, but they left open areas sure to raise objections. A 2. 00. 7 US intelligence report said Iran had a nuclear weapons programme, but halted this in 2. The global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA, has been investigating this in parallel to the main nuclear talks, but says Iran has not provided enough information about its past activities. These include possible nuclear related tests at a secret military site, where Iran has barred IAEA inspectors. Iran says the international community is displaying double standards by not doing anything about its arch foe Israel, which is widely believed to have a nuclear arsenal though Israel has neither confirmed nor denied this. Adobe Acrobat Xi Pro Patch Mpt. Israel however, like nuclear armed India and Pakistan, is not a signatory to the NPT. Mapping Irans key nuclear sites. Iran has been severely hit by sanctions. Media playback is unsupported on your device. Media caption. The BBCs Amir Paivar looks at the impact sanctions have had on Iran. Since Irans undisclosed nuclear activities came to light, the country has been hit by a raft of sanctions by the UN, EU, US and other countries. These include a ban on the supply of heavy weaponry and nuclear related technology to Iran, a block on arms exports, asset freezes, travel bans, bans on trade in precious metals, and bans on crude oil exports and banking transactions, among others. The sanctions have contributed to a fall in the value of the Iranian riyal and to rising inflation, with the cost of basic foodstuffs and fuel soaring. This has hit ordinary Iranians, with some rare protests reported. Under the 2. 01. 3 interim deal, Iran got some sanctions relief in return for curbing its enrichment activities. The comprehensive accord will see oil and financial sanctions phased out gradually as the IAEA confirms Iranian compliance. However, the UN weapons embargo and the ban on buying missile technology will remain in place for several years. What are the sanctions on IranHow ordinary Iranians see the nuclear talks. Some countries are unhappy about the deal. Image copyright. Reuters. A deal which leaves Iran with any capacity whatsoever to build a bomb has alarmed Israel and Irans neighbours in the Gulf. Iran believes Israel should not exist. Israel sees a nuclear Iran as a major threat to it and the wider world. Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the comprehensive accord was a bad mistake of historic proportions that would allow Iran to continue to pursue its aggression and terror in the region. He has previously warned that Israel will do everything necessary to thwart the prospect of Iran developing nuclear weapons. Saudi Arabia, the Sunni ruled regional rival to Shia Iran, also fears a compromise deal will not stop Iran eventually getting a nuclear bomb. Saudi Arabia also worries that an end to sanctions will embolden and strengthen Iran economically and militarily. Both Israel and Saudi Arabia, key US allies in the region, feel Washington is putting a deal with Iran before their security needs. This is not the end of it. Image copyright. Getty Images. Although a deal has been agreed, it still does not mean the crisis is over. While an agreement might defuse the stand off between Iran and world powers, Israel and Saudi Arabia have warned it could fuel a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Under this scenario, countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia could seek to equip themselves with nuclear weapons before Iran gets a chance to. There are also strong opponents to a deal in both Iran and the US. In Iran, hardliners will portray the deal as a defeat for Iran, while in Washington members of Congress, where scepticism is strong, will have to approve the deal before US sanctions can be lifted. US President Barack Obama himself has said he will support fresh sanctions against Iran if it does not uphold any agreement. Are Irans Sunni neighbours about to race for The BombWhy Arab leaders worry about Irans nuclear program. On the surface, it would seem as though Arab leaders would support the Iranian nuclear program. After all, Iran is a fellow Muslim state in close geographic proximity that shares a strong hostility for Israel. Moreover, Pakistans triumph in developing nuclear weapons to combat Indias nuclear program generated great pride in the Arab world. Yet, save for Syria, which supports the Iranian nuclear program because of its strategic alliance with Tehran, Arab governments disapprove of Irans nuclear pursuits, commonly believing that Iran is using its civilian nuclear program as a pretext to develop nuclear weapons. In several meetings, leaders of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC, which consists of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, and the United Arab Emirates, have urged Iran to curb its nuclear ambitions, with GCC Secretary General Abd Arahman Attiyah saying in Arabic at a November 2. The Iranian nuclear program does not have any justification. We call on the international community to make the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction. Likewise, in February 2. Egypt, which has always called for denuclearizing the Middle East, made clear that it opposes Irans nuclear program by voting to transfer the Iranian crisis from the International Atomic Energy Agency IAEA Board of Governors to the U. N. Security Council. See Nonaligned Realinging to Confront Iran. Similarly, the Security Councils current leader, Libya, and its North African neighbors arent friendly to the current leadership in Tehran. Morocco hosted Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi in the 1. Islamic Revolution, while Algeria and Tunisia enjoy strong political, economic, and diplomatic relations with Egypt and the Gulf States. For its part, Libya revealed several secret connections between A. Q. Khan and Tehran when it dismantled its nuclear weapons program in 2. See Arab States in the Iranian Nuclear Equation in Arabic. There is also historical precedent. Iran and the Arab world have never had a strong relationship. Iran is the birthplace of Shiism while the Arab states are mostly Sunnites. After Mohammeds death in 6. Sunnis and Shiites wanted to inherit the leadership of Muslim communities around the world. When Arab Muslim armies defeated the Persian Sassanide Empire 2. Iran and the Arab world that lasted for several centuries. In particular, border disputes continue to this day. In 1. 97. 0, Iran forcibly occupied three Arab islands located at the entrance of the Persian Gulf. The United Arab Emirates still considers these islands as part of its territory. In addition, Iran briefly declared Bahrain as part of its territory because Bahrain is guided by a Sunni regime while the majority of the population is Shia. The new Iraqi government and Tehran are also currently arguing over the Shat al Arab region that Baghdad wants included as part of Iraq. Traditionally, the Arab states have sided with Iraq. During the Iran Iraq War, all of them but Syria supported Saddam Hussein militarily, politically, and logistically in hopes of curbing the spread of the 1. Islamic Revolution. The centuries of acrimony have led to a healthy distrust of Iranian intentions especially when it comes to the safety and security of Irans nuclear facilities. Tehrans nuclear program relies on Russian technology, and its Arab neighbors fear another Chernobyl. Therefore, the location of the Bushehr nuclear reactor, less than 2 miles from the Persian Gulf and closer to six Arab capitals Kuwait, Riyadh, Manama, Doha, Abu Dhabi and Muscat than it is to Tehran, is a serious problem. Any nuclear accident would be an ecological disaster. The Persian Gulf, the only source of water for Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, would be contaminated, leaving those countries without drinking water. Meanwhile, the air contamination would spread to most of the populations who live downwind of the reactor. Commenting upon this possibility at a May 2. GCC consultative summit, UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah Ibn Zayed said, We appreciate Irans efforts to reassure the region over its program. But for the sake of stability and to avoid any environmental disaster, there needs to be more Iranian guarantees, and we are trying to ensure this. The Saudi government newspaper Al Watan also raised security issues about Irans nuclear facilities. In an April 2. 00. The main problem in the Iranian issue is concern for the environment and future dangers, in the event of a nuclear leak that could pollute the entire Gulf region. What increases concerns about an ecological disaster is Irans reliance first and foremost on Russian nuclear technology. The safety of this technology cannot be trusted, particularly after the well known Chernobyl disaster that caused radioactive ecological pollution in extensive regions of the world. In terms of protecting themselves against an Iranian Bomb, its likely that some Arab states particularly Saudi Arabia and Egypt would withdraw from the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty NPT and seek nuclear weapons of their own. In September 2. 00. Guardianreported that Saudi Arabia had launched a strategic security review that included the possible acquisition of nuclear weapons. According to the article, the contents of which Saudi officials denied, the review set out three options To acquire a nuclear capability as a deterrent To maintain or enter into an alliance with an existing nuclear power that would offer protection To try to reach a regional agreement on having a nuclear free Middle East. As for Egypt, on January 4, 2. IAEA announced that it had found evidence that Cairo had conducted clandestine nuclear experiments that could be used to develop a nuclear weapon. IAEA inspectors discovered fission products near a nuclear facility, a possible indication that the Egyptians had conducted research on plutonium separation. The IAEAs investigation concluded that Egyptian nuclear activities conformed to the countrys NPT obligations, but Egypts failure to declare its activities raised doubts about Cairos intentions, the extent of its nuclear activities, infrastructure, and capabilities, and whether it pursued other undeclared nuclear weapon related activities. More largely, Irans suspicious activities have stimulated increasing Arab interest in nuclear energy. Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, and the United Arab Emirates have already sought nuclear partnerships with the United States, Russia, and France to acquire nuclear technology. Since all of the Arab countries belong to the IAEA and NPT, the acquisition of nuclear energy is their undeniable right. But its possible this interest in nuclear power could lead to nuclear weapons. As Jordans King Abdullah told Haaretz in January 2. The rules have changed on the nuclear subject. Everybodys going for nuclear programs. What we dont want is an arms race to come out of this. The Arab countries also fear that Irans nuclear program could lead to a military conflict between Tehran and the United States andor Israel. The 2. 00. 7 U. S. National Intelligence Estimate, which declares that Iran gave up its nuclear weapons program in 2. U. S. military aggression. But the option of an Israeli attack similar to its June 1. Iraqi nuclear reactor at Osirak is still on the table. During a January 2.