Zarif Speaks to the Students of University of Tehran

Iran's foreign minister, Mohammad Javid Zarif delivered a speak to the students at the University of Tehran to tell them about the nuclear program that their country is evolving. The nuclear agreement between Iran and six other world powers (US, Russia, France, China, Britain and Germany) understands Iran's right to enrich uranium.  He explained to the students that without the enrichment program, there will be no solution to the nuclear issue.  Again, the article states that Iran seeks no interest in nuclear weapons. They believe that the weapons will be detrimental to their security.  

I found this article to be interesting, given that we are all college students.  For the foreign minister to come give a speech to the student population of University of Tehran is compelling.  Although as a student in the US, hearing about another country wanting to create this huge nuclear program is questionable.  I think it would be very interesting to hear what the students of Iran's opinions are on this matter.  

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/2013/12/03/338090/iran-to-maintain-enrichment-program/

Historic nuclear deal: The art of delicate Iranian diplomacy

    After the recent Geneva deal, this opinion piece was published on the Tehran Times website.  For the first part of the article the author summarizes the details of the deal but in the later part he talks about what this means for Iran.  From the author's standpoint it seems that this deal was a great success for Iran.  Their nuclear program is still intact and some of the sanctions will be lifted.  He also says that this is a good first step for future agreements.  One thing that I noticed from reading this article is that people's view on the Geneva deal is dependent on if they believe Iran intends to build nuclear weapons.  From the US and European standpoint the deal did not go far enough to stop Iran's nuclear capabilities.  This worries them because they are afraid Iran could still make progress towards building a weapon.  From the Iranian standpoint this deal is great because some sanctions are removed and they still have the possibility to create nuclear energy.  By the end of the article I was left with the question, "why would a country that wants to develop nuclear weapons be so willing to give concessions?"

Link to article: http://www.tehrantimes.com/component/content/article/52-guests/112363-historic-nuclear-deal-the-art-of-delicate-iranian-diplomacy   

The Write UP!!!!

For the reflective write up I would like each of you to analyze what happened within the blog as a whole. This analysis should include 2-4 ‘themes’ or ‘categories’--preferably, though not necessarily exclusively, themes from class. Trace your chosen themes through the posts on the blog. You can quote from the posts, or the media itself, but please cite it in the paper. Please discuss posts that are not just your own! Using comments as well as primary posts to support your themes is encouraged. In many ways I picture this project as a research paper without the final product. What I mean by this is that online you are discovering and interrogating sources—analyzing them as raw pieces of data. In this written (and more formal) portion, I want you to create/impose order on the chaos that is data collection. This write up is just the analysis or discussion portion of a ‘normal’ paper, with some ‘conclusionary’ remarks for good measure. This essay may include personal observations and will definitely show what you thought most interesting. The essays should be between 3-5pages long and are due on BB by 5pm on December 16, 2013 (our final period). If you need some help likely categories might include geopolitics, individual perspectives, Al-Jazeera vs BBC, how the US is involved, role of oil, regime change..... These are *just examples* you do NOT need to use these!!! I wanted to give you some clues as to the possibilities so it would be easier to see the themes for yourselves.

World Powers Reach Nuclear Deal With Iran After Grueling Talks

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/world-powers-reach-nuclear-deal-with-iran-after-grueling-tal

       I found this article while I am browsing through one of my favorite websites. It talks about the agreement came to in Geneva between six world powers. They reached an interim deal with Iran on its nuclear program. Iranians agreed to cease uranium enrichment beyond five percent. Iran will be required to dilute or convert to oxide its stock of 20-percent enriched uranium and is not allowed to install new centrifuges. 
       The article says that in a press conference taking place after negotiating parties signed the agreement, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif said that the deal would result in the “removal of any doubts about the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program.” 
I don't understand how any nuclear program could be "peaceful" or how peace is associated with nuclear power.
      Thoughts??  

The "Truth" about Iran Nuclear Deal

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPl_1vzz2Y0

I found this video on youtube and thought that it was quite interesting not quite sure who the guy speaking is or what AMTV is but it does seem like it is a pro-American group. This video the guy speaking, Christopher Greene, is very kind of in your face as he says in the video and I believe he is really giving his own opinion throughout the video about what he thinks is the truth about the Iran nuclear deal. He talks about how he really doesn't believe that this whole deal is a peace keeping deal and that the United States is basically teeing Iran up for war, and mainly against Israel.

Human Rights vs Nuclear Program

http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-iran-human-rights-and-nuclear-security-go-hand-in-hand/2013/11/29/e131a7dc-578b-11e3-8304-caf30787c0a9_story.html

This article in the Washington Post that I found I thought was very interesting. It seems that there is a lot of disregard for human rights in Iran. Apparently Iran has the world's highest per capita rate of executions. With this dealing with nuclear power, Iran and its seems the world as well is almost completely ignoring the human rights problem that is going on in Iran in order to go on with the new nuclear program. There is persecution of many religious minorities and ethnic groups such as Christians, Kurds, and Ahwazi Arabs. It looks that if human rights are being sacrificed for this nuclear deal.

Iran's Nuclear Program: Cause for Concern, But Not Alarm

    I found this article from Al Jazeera to be very interesting because it has a different viewpoint from most of the other articles already posted here.  A majority of the articles from Western news sites firmly believe that Iran intends to build a nuclear weapon.  The author of this article, titled "Iran's Nuclear Program: Cause for Concern, but Not Alarm", basically says that Iran has done some things to cause concern, but that does not mean they intend to build a nuclear weapon.  The author gives three reasons why Iran would not want to build a weapon.  His first point is that no country has ever built a weapon while under the watch of the International Atomic Energy Agency.  With inspectors in the country it would be virtually impossible to hide all of the evidence of building a weapon.  His second point is that Iran cannot afford to try to build an arsenal of weapons and then get caught.  It would cost Iran millions of dollars to create nuclear weapons and the chances of getting discovered are so high that it would just be a waste of money.  His last point is that according to some intelligence officials Iranian leaders have not actually decided to build a bomb.  He says that there is little evidence to suggest that leaders have made a final decision to create a bomb.

    I think the author of this article raised some great points as to why Iran would not consider building a nuclear bomb.  Most of the articles I have read only give reasons for why Iran wants to build a weapon, so it was interesting to see the opposite viewpoint.  I hope to see an article with counter arguments because there may be some flaws with the author's reasoning's that I did not see. 

Link to article: http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2013/10/9/iran-nuclear-programprimer.html