Mr. Chair, any time there is a sincere effort to reach an agreement to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons, I tend to favour it. I have to call into question this particular set of negotiations, because it appears, and I want to stress the word “appears”, that Iran is outmanoeuvring the United States, and I am very concerned about that, as many other people are.
We had testimony before our committee about two years ago that Iran was at the development stage of yellow cake in its nuclear program, which is very close to getting it to the level where it could start to build nuclear weapons. There is evidence that it has built, under a mountain, a site where it can have a centrifuge and proceed. Even if it follows this agreement, it just pauses the situation. It does not eliminate it. We are troubled by that.
Yes, we think negotiation is good, but I am not so sure what we would gain by denouncing or supporting it in this instance, because there are two major nations that are going ahead with it either way.