P5+1/Iran Negotiations Represent Best Hope to Permanently Eliminate Risk of Iranian Nuclear Weapon
Statement of Ploughshares Fund President Joe Cirincione and Policy Director Joel Rubin
Washington, DC – Ploughshares Fund strongly supports the ongoing negotiations between the P5+1 powers and Iran to prevent Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear weapon. As a global leader in preventing the spread of nuclear weapons, Ploughshares Fund strongly believes that a verifiable agreement with Iran that ends its ability to build a nuclear weapon is in the clear security interest of the United States.
In anticipation of a deal announcing a concrete first step toward the resolution of Iran’s nuclear program between the P5+1 and Iran, the leadership of the Ploughshares Fund has issued the following statements:
“The initial deal under discussion in Geneva will make it harder for Iran to build a bomb. It will extend the time required in any "break out" scenario. It will increase our ability to inspect Iran's facilities and detect any clandestine enrichment facilities.
“Now is the time for Americans to demonstrate their support for these negotiations. Further negotiations will inevitably have ups and downs – but diplomacy remains the best available option going forward. There is no effective military solution to the Iranian nuclear program.
“A deal that ensures that Iran will never develop a nuclear weapon is a major security victory. It will make Israel, the region and the United States safer and more secure.”
– Joe Cirincione, President
“The diplomacy underway is the result of years of painstaking bipartisan efforts to pressure Iran to come clean about its nuclear activities.
The Obama administration deserves credit for both building and maintaining the most effective multilateral coalition ever organized in pursuit of preventing a new nuclear state. And the U.S. Congress deserves credit for authoring legislation that helped to foster this pressure, pressure that ultimately led Iran back to the negotiating table.
“It is essential that the United States continue to closely engage its longtime allies in the Middle East about the changing relationship between the United States and Iran. Our country’s longtime partners, including Israel, have reason to be cautious about these changes, and the continued close support that the United States provides to Israel should be maintained. And we should all remember that by preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, Israel’s security interests will benefit as well.”
– Joel Rubin, Policy and Government Affairs Director