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Harvard's Kennedy School publishes article by ASU law professor


January 15, 2014

Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government published an article, titled "Iran Plays Games with the Geneva Deal," co-authored by ASU law professor Orde Kittrie and Olli Heinonen, former deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency. The article assesses Iranian implementation of the Joint Plan of Action, agreed to in Geneva on Nov. 24, 2013 between Iran and the United States, China, France, Germany, Russia and the UK. 

In the article, Kittrie and Heinonen assert that "rather than implementing the deal in good faith, Iran is playing games with it, manipulating the Joint Plan of Action to alter to Tehran’s advantage both the circumstances on the ground and the terms of the deal itself." 

The article concludes that "if the negotiations with Iran are to succeed in achieving U.S. national security objectives, both the first stage implementation agreement and any comprehensive final agreement must be legally binding, enter into force on a clearly specified date, reaffirm the authority of the UN Security Council, and contain far fewer gaps and ambiguities."

Read the entire article here.

Kittrie is a leading expert on nonproliferation law and policy issues. Prior to joining the ASU law faculty, Kittrie served for 11 years in legal and policy positions at the U.S. Department of State. As the department's lead attorney for nuclear affairs, he participated in negotiating five U.S.-Russia nuclear nonproliferation agreements and a U.N. treaty to combat nuclear terrorism. He has also testified on nonproliferation issues before both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives.