In Their Own Words: Grantees on the Iran Deal

WAND presentation: the Iran nuclear agreement after one year

Ploughshares Fund's powerful network of grantees was vital to our five-year campaign for a diplomatic solution to the Iran nuclear crisis. Grantees like Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), which recently hosted an excellent presentation on the deal's achievements after one year, made all the difference. Watch the video presentation here.

The panel featured WAND's Nuclear Weapons Policy Director, Erica Fein, along with two other Ploughshares Fund grantees, Barbara Slavin, Acting Director of the Future of Iran Initiative at the Atlantic Council, and Kate Gould, Legislative Representative for Middle East Policy at the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL).

One year in, the Iran deal has been a success, the speakers agreed. Under the diplomatic agreement, Iran cut its uranium stockpile by 98 percent, dismantled over 13,000 centrifuges, and ripped out the core of its plutonium reactor. Iran also agreed to intrusive inspections and monitoring of its nuclear facilities by the International Atomic Energy Agency, ensuring that its nuclear program remains peaceful.

Nonetheless, other behavior like Iran's continued work on ballistic missile technology and human rights violations, remains a concern for the United States and its allies. But Slavin noted that the alternative of a nuclear-armed Iran was far worse than an Iran constrained by the deal. "It is exactly because we have… differences with Iran that this nuclear agreement was so important," she said.

Gould shared a similar assessment, underlining the need for the United States to support the deal for its success in blocking an Iranian bomb and advancing US security. "If you undermine the deal… then all those extra inspections from the IAEA, then all those extra restrictions on Iran's nuclear program, go away," said Gould.

Ploughshares Fund is proud to sponsor the work of WAND, FCNL and the Atlantic Council's Future of Iran Task Force for creative, informative panels like the webinar and for all their critical work in supporting this landmark diplomatic accord.

 

Photo: Women's Action for New Directions (WAND), Facebook Cover