Last week, President Barack Obama secured the necessary 34 votes in the Senate in favor of the Iran Peace Agreement. Despite this victory for the Obama camp, it’s nothing of the sort for GOP lawmakers.

Republicans have been extremely outspoken over the Iran Deal, as talks continue out of fear that the deal is too relaxed. Democrats, on the other hand, look at this as a step in the right direction in forging a genuine, diplomatic relationship with Iran.

The colloquially known “Iran Deal” is a peace accord made between the six world powers to yield Iran’s development of a nuclear bomb. In the 100-plus page agreement, there are various technical terms which Iran must follow regarding its nuclear research. If it does not follow the terms of the agreement, sanctions previously imposed by the United Nations will be slapped back on it.

While having formal ties with other countries, especially those with as much influence as Iran does, we cannot appease rogue behavior in any way. If the United States wants Iran to know it means business, there are a few loose strings within the agreement that need to be tightened before it goes into action.

Why are concessions being made for a country that has done nothing to prove its trustworthiness? This is not American propaganda, this is not the U.S. making a villain out of an angel – this is the cold, hard truth. Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon capable of mass destruction.

If Iran were to completely disregard the agreement, which would not come as a surprise, not only are our allies, including Israel, in grave danger, but the U.S. is as well. Iran has made its hatred of America publicly known, so why would the United States trust them? There is no reason to.

The most disconcerting aspect of the deal that has Republican lawmakers uneasy is the issue of inspections. GOP lawmakers have been asking for there to be “anytime, anywhere” inspections of Iran’s nuclear program. However, William Tobey from The Wall Street Journal notes the semantics game being played on this subject.

There is no point of even having an agreement if the nuclear program can’t be inspected in its entirety at random times. Having scheduled times and designated inspection locations would do nothing but leave loopholes for Iran to jump through, which they have incentive to take advantage of if they want to keep the UN sanctions off.

Despite top Democrats, such as Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, raving about this agreement, there is one major kink to the agreement: it’s only temporary. Some of the terms of the deal are set to expire in 10 to 15 years. President Obama says that these terms won’t need any extension, but why would the country want these terms to be anything but permanent? This only further incentivizes Iran to not abide by the agreement.

It’s clear that a deal was needed so Iran had proper guidelines to follow when developing its nuclear program. However, without proper security measures, such as independent third-party inspections, there may as well not be a deal at all. Iran has made its adverse intentions clear, and world powers, such as the U.S., must do everything in their power to ensure those plans do not come to fruition.

Vanessa Salman is a junior political science major. Her column appears weekly. She can be reached at vksalman@syr.edu and followed on Twitter @VanessaSalman.

Published on September 8, 2015 at 11:29 pm