Vol. 79/No. 26 July 27, 2015
The administration aims to make possible a closer political alliance with Tehran, especially in the fight against Islamic State. The Iranian-backed Hez-bollah militia is a major point of support for the Bashar al-Assad dictatorship in Syria, and Tehran is funding and training Shiite militias fighting alongside government forces in Iraq.
The accord between Tehran and the governments of the U.S., the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany sets limits on the Iranian government’s nuclear activities for 10 years. These include reducing the number of centrifuges for enriching uranium; limiting the level of enrichment to 3.67 percent, far below weapons grade; and cutting stockpiles of low enriched uranium, ostensibly extending to one year the time it would take for Iran to acquire enough fissile material for a weapon.
Intrusive inspections of Iran’s uranium mines, military facilities and manufacturing plants that “few other countries have ever agreed to” will be conducted by the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, the Wall Street Journal reported.
In exchange, financial and economic sanctions — some of which began in 2006 — that imperialist powers and the U.N. had imposed on Iran would be lifted as soon as its government is declared in compliance with the restrictions, expected to take at least six to nine months. These sanctions hit working people the hardest and have led to increased joblessness, declining wages and rising food prices. A ban on conventional arms sales and on trading ballistic missiles and parts will remain in effect another five to eight years.
The agreement will now be debated in Congress over the next 60 days. Obama has said he would veto any measure to block it.
Once both sides have ratified the pact, the Iranian government would gain access to about $100 billion in frozen assets that the imperialist powers has seized under the sanctions, and oil sales can increase.
The agreement has strained Washington’s relations with longtime allies in the region, from Israel to Saudi Arabia. “Israel is not bound by this deal with Iran because Iran continues to seek our destruction,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told reporters July 14.
Kurdish advance worries Turkish gov’t
The agreement with Tehran comes as tensions are heating up between Kurdish fighters making advances against Islamic State in Syria and Turkey’s rulers, who are increasingly alarmed about the prospect of the Kurds establishing their own self-ruled territory.In a June 26 speech Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that his government will “never allow” the Kurds to establish a state “in the north of Syria.” Ankara has increased its military presence along Syria’s border, deploying tanks and anti-aircraft missiles as well as additional troops.
Gen. John Allen, U.S. special envoy for the coalition against the Islamic State, visited Ankara July 7 to meet Turkish officials over speculation that Turkey might launch a military intervention inside Syria. Turkey has been at odds with Washington for not joining the U.S.-led “coalition” and for demanding a buffer zone be established inside Syrian territory where refugees would live under Turkish military control.
The Iranian government backs Ankara in preventing establishment of a Kurdish state in Syria. Iran’s ambassador to Turkey, Ali Reza Bikdeli, said both governments have agreed to preserve “the unity” of Syrian territory, reported ARA News.
Some 30 million Kurds in Turkey, Iran, Iraq and Syria have been battling against national oppression and a homeland denied to them by the imperialist division of the region put in place following World War I by London and Paris with Washington’s backing.
The capture of the strategic town of Tel Abyad on Turkey’s border last month by Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG) gives Kurdish groups in northern Syria control of most of the nearly 250 miles of territory adjacent to Turkey stretching from Kobani to the Syria-Iraq border. Islamic State fighters have also been driven out of one-third of the province of Raqqa.
A statement issued by the YPG General Command July 10 noted that over the past 65 days its fighters successfully liberated 4,250 square miles of territories from the reactionary Islamic State. “Relying on the will and ability of our forces, they can defeat Daesh [Islamic State],” the statement said, despite “how low our forces resource might be, and the lack of support in the area of weapons and ammunitions.” Fearing the rising fight for Kurdish sovereignty, Washington, while conducting some airstrikes in the area, has refused to provide YPG with needed heavy equipment to more effectively combat IS.
Front page (for this issue) | Home | Text-version home