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Building on Iran deal to stem nuclear proliferation

Nonproliferation experts hope that an Iran agreement won’t encourage other countries to seek the nuclear fuel cycle and that a decade or more of restrictions on Iran’s program can be used to promote other measures to stem the spread of dangerous technologies and materials.
Iran's ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Reza Najafi addresses the media after a board of governors meeting at the IAEA headquarters in Vienna March 4, 2015. No deal has been reached on the duration of any possible final agreement with world powers on Iran's nuclear programme, Najafi said on Wednesday. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader  (AUSTRIA - Tags: POLITICS ENERGY) - RTR4S2WE

The framework for a long-term Iran nuclear deal, if it is completed by June 30, should prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon for at least a decade. But experts hope to use the next few years to lock in other improvements to the international nonproliferation system that will make it less likely that the world will face another crisis like it has with Iran and North Korea.

The last major improvement to the nonproliferation regime was after the Iraq war in 1991, Sharon Squassoni, director of the proliferation prevention program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), told Al-Monitor.

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