Delay, Risks and Israeli Stance: New Iran Nuclear Deal

In 2015, Iran signed a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) agreement, which is commonly known as “Iran Nuclear Deal”. The deal was signed between five permanent members of United Nations Security Council (UNSC), Germany (P5+1) countries and Iran. When Donald Trump came into power in 2018, a unilateral American withdrawal from nuclear deal was observed. Whereas, in 2021, Joe Biden administration decided to revive the deal in April 2021 on which Iran also agreed and talks started. In February 2022, the participants of the deal said “the deal was on the verge of being finalized after a year of discussions”. At the times when United States and Iran talks advanced, Ukraine-Russia war erupted in the form of a new issue due to which the renewed deal process was delayed. Now, another main point of contention is Iran’s demand of removing Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) be taken off from U.S list of Foreign Terrorists Organization (FTO). They were placed in 2019 on the list after Trump’s maximum pressure campaign after unilateral withdrawal of nuclear deal. The Vienna discussions on deal seem to be crossing the line between a breaking point and a breakthrough. The U.S still considers the deal in its national interests as said by the Secretary of State, Tony Blinken.

However, the ongoing deal has set off alarm bells in Israel; the leaders have condemned the deal at various platforms as they are of opinion it will not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons. With a signed agreement, Iran will be more confident in its actions and will have more resources. Israel fears that sanctions will be removed and billions of dollars in frozen assets would be released, causing Iran to spend more on its regional proxies. Israel’s Prime Minister Naftali Bennett in a statement has said that “the emerging deal, as it seems, is highly likely to create a more violent and more volatile Middle-East”. Also, he repeated his threat that Israel is not bound to attack Iran. According to United States Ambassador to Israel, Israeli’s hands are not tied if America has a deal with Iran. It can take any action against Iran to protect Israel. Prime Minister has expressed his concerns to secretary of state that afterwards risks of deal will affect the region and Israel. Recently, Bennett has invited Joe Biden to visit Israel which has been accepted. Despite this, Israel’s remarks alluded to points of contention. Israel has warned Biden to not delist IRGC for the security of state. Israeli media is also reporting the chances of nuclear deal are “slim to none”.

If an agreement is made, Tehran has also asked to access the frozen $7 billion and oil exports, the sanctions will be lifted from Iran. As a result, Iran, the United States and the rest of the globe would benefit economically. With Iran being able to sell oil around the world, it may be able to help down the sky-high energy prices caused by Ukraine war. The deal is in limbo; on the other hand, Israel is ramping up the pressure on Biden administration, but it has to be seen yet that U.S will delist the IRGC and will result in a historical “Iran Nuclear Deal” or not.




Israel-Palestine Conflict; Towards Escalation

The current situation:

The deadly violence against Palestinians continue by the Israelis. Israeli Police has entered Mosque Al-Aqsa and has killed many innocent Palestinians in this holy month of Ramadan, at the holy place. Protests have taken place in Gaza as Israeli raided the Mosque calling out the Arab and the whole international community for help. The violation of human rights has seen to be flared up by the Israelis in the last two months of 2022 (March and April). Israel has also carried out air raids in the central Gaza Strip. It is for the second time in the two weeks that Israel is attacking.

Israel-Palestine Conflict under a legal perspective:

According to the Resolution 181, adopted by United Nations General Assembly in 1947, led to the creation of two independent states in the territory of Palestine. One, the Jewish state of Israel, other the Arab state of Palestine.

Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention states “the state as a body of international law should possess the following characteristics:

A permanent population

A defined territory

Government

Sovereignty and Capacity to enter into relations with other states

Israel and Palestine both attained these characteristics but the sovereignty of Palestine has been compromised after the Israel’s creation. Palestine does have a definitive and permanent population and Palestinians reside in both, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. It even has the government but still the Israel’s violations and occupation in the Palestine’s territory hurt its sovereignty. This theory of state supports for Palestinian claims to statehood and Palestine meets the criteria of statehood if other states recognize its statehood. Such a formal acknowledgement may have come in the form of the UNGA’s 2012 resolution on the status of Palestine’s statehood. The resolution received 138 votes in favor, 9 against, and 41 abstentions. In result the Palestine was granted non-member observer state status in the United Nations.

The development of Israeli settlements in the Israeli-occupied areas is considered illegal by the international community for violating Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention and international declarations. The Fourth Geneva Convention is applicable to the Israeli-occupied areas, according to the United Nations Security Council, the United Nations General Assembly, and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Court of Justice, and the High Contracting Parties to the Convention. Israeli settlements in the West Bank, East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights are considered illegal under international law.

Conclusion:

International community and the Muslim world are also against the Israeli’s settlements and violations of international law and human rights, but no legal action has ever been taken. Protests against the Israeli’s violations take place in many states but, the international community has always given a muted response because of its own parochial interests. Yet, Israel continues to illegally violate human rights and other international legal decisions even without any sanctions. This shows the International community’s failure of enforcing UN resolutions, in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It lacks to provide protection to Palestinians nor can it guarantee justice for them. This repeated failure of enforcement questions the precedence of UN Charter. Thus, the conflict will not transform towards de-escalation.