Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson cautioned that the success of any Iran agreement will come down to enforcement and dismantlement of Tehran’s nuclear program.
“That has been the purpose of this entire military operation from the very beginning,” Benson said on Fox News’s Outnumbered Monday. “But it’s the Iranians. They lie, they cheat, they steal, the devil will be in those details.”
Concerns over Iran’s nuclear program have been a central source of tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel since the early 2000s. Iran has insisted that its nuclear program is intended for peaceful and civilian purposes.
Benson pointed to key components that would determine the agreement’s success, including the lifting of economic pressure on Iran and sanctions tied to compliance with future obligations, but he also emphasized that the most consequential element is whether Iran agrees to give up its nuclear capabilities.
“I think a strong, definitive analysis of what we’re calling this deal can’t really happen yet until we have these further specifics on the nuclear component,” Benson said.
In 2015, under former President Barack Obama’s administration, Iran, the U.S., and world powers negotiated the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which placed limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, under the first Trump administration, the United States withdrew from the agreement.
VANCE SAYS MOU BETWEEN IRAN AND US ‘ALREADY SIGNED’ DIGITALLY
Benson described the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program and the removal of its highly enriched uranium as an outcome that would be considered a major success.
“If indeed Iran gives up that nuclear dust, as the president likes to call it, highly enriched uranium, removed from the country and their program is dismantled — which has been not just the goal, but the expectation here — that would be an enormous win,” Benson said.