The following statement was released on July 16, 2015 by Pax Christi International, the Catholic peace movement.
On 14 July 2015, an agreement on the Iranian nuclear programme was reached in Vienna, Austria. This agreement was achieved through protracted high level political negotiations involving the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, the Russian Federation and the European Union, as well as Iran. It aims to curb Iran’s development of nuclear weapons while allowing the country to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. Pax Christi International applauds this important diplomatic accomplishment as a critical step toward nuclear non-proliferation and, ultimately, nuclear abolition.
The agreement should be welcomed as a sign of rapprochement between Iran and the West. Negotiations have effectively improved security and should bring about some improvement in the lives of hard-pressed Iranians. The deal will enable Iran to play a more active role in regional politics, increasing the possibility of a diplomatic solution to the war in Syria and leveraging political concessions in Baghdad and Damascus that could more effectively curtail the power of ISIS and avert a wider Shia-Sunni conflict. Above all, skilled diplomacy has prevented a disastrous war in response to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, a war that would have endangered the entire world.
The agreement with Iran has the potential to reshape much of the Middle East. Hopefully it will strengthen the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and stimulate development of a Nuclear Weapons-Free Zone in the Middle East, a goal repeatedly supported by the nations of the world at the UN since 1974.
Pax Christi International again congratulates the negotiators on their landmark accomplishment. We urge full support for this agreement and pray that its successful implementation will be a turning point for all nations away from the acquisition, possession, or modernization of nuclear weapons and toward their abolition worldwide.
Brussels, 16 July 2015