Sam Nunn Says Nuclear Deal Prevents Iran from Getting Weapons

Posted July 24, 2015

External Article: WABE Public Broadcasting Station

Senator Sam Nunn, Distinguished Professor in the Sam Nunn School of International Affairs, appeared on the talk show "A Closer Look" on WABE to discuss the Iranian Nuclear Deal. For a long time, Nunn has maintained a keen interest in weapons and security, even going so far as to co-found the Nuclear Threat Initiative along with Ted Turner.

From what Nunn shared, the intelligence community estimated that creating a nuclear weapon will take at least a month or two.

“One of the goals of this set of discussions and agreement is to stretch that time so that they could not achieve a real weapon within that period of time, but to go to a year, at least,” Nunn said.

“Sometimes we get so involved in the details, we lose sight of what we’re really trying to achieve, and what we’re really trying to achieve is basically preventing the Iranians from getting a bomb,” he said.

Specifically, Nunn believes that this agreement will make it much harder for the Iranians to get a nuclear bomb over the course of ten or fifteen years.

The problem is that the knowledge and technology used in peaceful nuclear purposes is also used in making nuclear bombs, Nunn said.

Nunn said ultimately there are two objectives when it comes to Iran. To prevent the nation from getting a nuclear bomb and to do it without a war.

As Nunn said, "You have to ask yourself the question, 'If we turn this agreement down, what happens?'"

He says that there are two sets of risks. "One is the risk associated with the agreement. The other set of risks is what happens if this is turned down by Congress."

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Sam Nunn is co-chairman and chief executive officer of the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI), a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization working to reduce the risk of use and prevent the spread of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. He served as a United States Senator from Georgia for 24 years (1972-1996) and is retired from the law firm of King & Spalding.