Professor On Iranian Nuclear Agreement: 'Better Deal Than People Thought The Administration Would Get'
By Gary R'Nel
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - Gary R'Nel talked with Dr. Michael Boyle Associate Professor of Political Science at La Salle University on Talk Radio 1210 WPHT about agreement the Western nuclear powers have reached with Iran.
Boyle thinks these negotiations yielded an acceptable outcome for the Obama Administration.
"This is a better deal than a lot of people thought the Administration was going to get. But if you were going to look at this as a bargain, the Administration was a little bit better in getting them to take out [more] of the highly enriched uranium out of some of the facilities than they expected. By some estimates, Iran will cut its stockpile by up to 75 percent and it's a pretty rigorous enforcement mechanism and a lot of multilateral pressure on Iran. I think, actually, the Administration played its cards really well."
He does expect Iran to adhere with the agreement and not to engage in any deceptions that would result in a secret bomb program.
"The thing that makes me more encouraged that they will be willing to do it is that by removing the sanctions it helps the Iranian regime and the Iranians will be under a lot of pressure given that the Russians, the French, the British, the Germans, even the Chinese have backed this deal. They'll be under a lot of pressure not to play that game. The other thing the Administration has successfully done is, because they've limited the basic amount of uranium that's there and whether it can be highly enriched uranium in certain kinds of plants, in a sense, you won't be looking at the question about what they're doing with it, you just need to know the stockpile."
Still, Boyle does not believe this will lead to a deeper engagement with the Iranian regime.
"The Administration should not go in and simply embraced the Iranians, open up full diplomatic relations, and turn them into, essentially, a normal player in the Middle East because, in a lot of respects, our interests and their interests still, essentially, are opposed. I would be very careful with the Iranians. I would insist of very strict enforcement. I wouldn't trust that they're just going to adhere to this deal and I wouldn't look at this as a 'watershed' moment.
