New signs of progress recently emerged In America’s seemingly endless nuclear negotiations with Iran, when the financially-strapped Islamic nation agreed to limit its nuclear production and allow outside inspections in exchange for the U.S. lifting its crippling economic sanctions.
But the potential for a compromise isn’t welcome news for conservative leaders in the U.S. and Israel who have long advocated for a hard line stance against Iran and the grave nuclear threat they believe it poses. Spicing up the drama, Republicans have recently tried to thwart the negotiations through a series of high profile political maneuvers meant to undermine the Obama Administration. Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed a joint session of Congress, after a controversial invite from House Speaker John Boehner (and without Obama’s approval), urging the U.S. to abandon the administration’s proposed nuclear deal and intimating that Obama didn’t know what he was doing. And last Monday, 47 Republican senators sent an unprecedented open letter to Iranian leaders, suggesting that any nuclear deal made with the Obama Administration would be subject to reversal after the president leaves office in less than two years.
So what’s all the fuss about? These three resources — from the NY Times, Associated Press and the Center on Foreign Relations — do a great job boiling down a, well, potentially radioactive situation. Click the images below to view each interactive.
NY Times: The Nuclear Talks Explained
AP: Iran’s Political Structure and Economy
Council on Foreign Relations: History and Context
