<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/577bc96d4321f172088b5de3-2400/rtr2q9wm.jpg" /><p>REUTERS/Chris Wattie<br /><br />Gold is poured during a tour of Agnico-Eagle's Meadowbank Mine, near Baker Lake.<br /><br /><br />One of the more popular debates among economists revolves around this question: What's the point of gold?<br /><br />Some think it doesn't serve any purpose, and therefore has no intrinsic value.<br /><br />Others claim that hoarding gold is a legitimate way to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/risk-off-trades-are-going-crazy-right-now-2016-2">safely store wealth</a> in preparation for economic troubles.<br /><br />Investors in aggregate tend to lean toward the latter sentiment. In times of market turmoil, they generally dive headfirst into the shiny metal.<br /><br />For example, most recently, gold prices shot up about <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/gold-is-rocketing-higher-2016-6">5.2% the morning after the Brexit vote</a> while the rest of global markets were in <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/closing-bell-june-24-2016-6">meltdown</a> mode.<br /><br />Still, while gold tends to go up in times of economic stress, it doesn't do as well in risk-on periods. And the problem here for investors is that it's <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/witty-definitions-of-key-wall-street-terms-2015-11/">basically impossible to predict</a> what will happen next in the markets.<br /><br />As such, a Citi research team led by Jonathan Stubbs argued that, overall, black gold - aka oil - is probably a better bet than gold.<br /><br />"Many investors see gold as the ultimate hedge. We see a strong case for owning 'black gold' over gold for those truly looking for a two-way, rather than one-way, hedge against real world risks," the team recently wrote in a note to clients.<br /><br />They explained in greater detail:<br /><br />"We believe that there is a stronger case for black gold (oil, or more specifically oil equity within the remit of a simple equity strategist) as an attractive investment in periods of both risk off and risk on, unless we face a return of high-level global <keyword id="410562" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="systemic-risk">systemic risk</keyword>, in which case gold will likely win out. Oil also provides a degree of protection against inflation risk, which may be helpful at some point in the future.<br /><br />"Looking at how oil and gold have traded over the last 25+ years would suggest that this is a reasonable time to be making the case for black gold over gold if our thinking is heading in the right direction. Oil equity also offers an attractive coupon, as discussed, and is very liquid."<br /><br />Although the Citi team doesn't explicitly discuss this, it's worth noting that the real world <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/opec-oil-trade-movement-map-2016-6">basically runs on oil</a> and there are (so far) few short-term substitutes for the commodity. On the flip side, gold's primary uses are in the form of <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-people-use-gold-in-the-real-world-2016-3">jewelry, coils, and dentistry</a> - and in all these cases it can theoretically be substituted for something else.</p><h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/poll-suggests-donald-trump-trailing-low-support-gop-republicans-clinton-2016-6">A new poll suggests this is the reason Trump is tanking</a></h3>                <br />    <pre style="display: none;">    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', '9yYm9lNDE6ZM06J9_dy8offsUVhNxvey',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </pre>    Please enable Javascript to watch this video<br />                <pre style="display: none;">(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </pre>

CITI: This commodity is a better safe-haven option than gold

<p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/57c9c4075124c9e04142d777-800" alt="Protesters clash with riot police during a rally to demand a referendum to remove Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, September 1, 2016. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins" data-mce-source="Thomson Reuters" data-mce-caption="Protesters clash with riot police during a rally to demand a referendum to remove Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas" /><p class="source"><span>Thomson Reuters</span></p><p class="caption">Protesters clash with riot police during a rally to demand a referendum to remove Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, September 1, 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div><p></p><p>Venezuela's deepening economic and political dysfunction have <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/venezuela-migration-economic-political-crisis-2016-11" target="_blank">spurred waves of outmigration</a> in recent years.</p><p>In the years since Hugo Chavez took office in 1999, well-off Venezuelans left the country, followed by educated professionals, and, most recently, the youth and middle class.</p><p>Now another marginalized group has begun to head for the exits: Venezuelan Jews, who have in the past moved to the US or Panama but have <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/venezuelan-jews-are-moving-to-israel-to-escape-deepening-poverty/2017/01/01/437d015b-8676-49ed-89d3-1edc0a57418e_story.html" target="_blank">struggled</a> to do so as Venezuela's economic drains more of the country's wealth.</p><p>Official Israeli figures <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/venezuelan-jews-are-moving-to-israel-to-escape-deepening-poverty/2017/01/01/437d015b-8676-49ed-89d3-1edc0a57418e_story.html" target="_blank">cited</a> by The Washington Post list 111 Venezuelan Jews as immigrating to Israel in 2015, or making "aliyah," as it is referred to in Hebrew.</p><p>That 2015 total was more than double the number who immigrated in 2012. Official totals for 2016 have yet to be released, but a charity that helps Jews from troubled areas reach Israel <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/venezuelan-jews-are-moving-to-israel-to-escape-deepening-poverty/2017/01/01/437d015b-8676-49ed-89d3-1edc0a57418e_story.html" target="_blank">told</a> The Post that it helped about 90 people get to the Middle Eastern country.</p><p>Venezuela's current Jewish community, <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">mainly Orthodox</a>, is thought to be between <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/middle_east/venezuelan-jews-are-moving-to-israel-to-escape-deepening-poverty/2017/01/01/437d015b-8676-49ed-89d3-1edc0a57418e_story.html" target="_blank">6,000 and 9,000</a> in number, down from <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">roughly 30,000</a> in the country around 2000.</p><p>Venezuela has <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">a long history</a> of Jewish communities. The oldest such community was a Sephardic congregation in Curacao - a Dutch territory just off Venezuela's Caribbean coast - that dates back to 1651. Since then, Venezuela has, at times, encouraged European migration, and Jewish people were able to integrate with relative alacrity.</p><p>Venezuela's recent relationship with Israel, however, has been fraught.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/586d5f85ee14b617038b6862-2400" alt="Israel Venezuela Lebanon Egypt Palestine protest" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Ali Hashisho" data-mce-caption="A Lebanese child shouts slogans near a Venezuelan flag during a protest organized by a leftist group in front of the Egyptian embassy in Beirut against Israel's attacks on Gaza, January 7, 2009. The Arabic writing on the Venezuelan flag reads, &amp;quotArab Republic of Venezuela.&quot;" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Ali Hashisho</span></p><p class="caption">A Lebanese child shouts slogans near a Venezuelan flag during a protest organized by a leftist group in front of the Egyptian embassy in Beirut against Israel's attacks on Gaza, January 7, 2009. The Arabic writing on the Venezuelan flag reads, "Arab Republic of Venezuela."</p></div><p></p></div></div><p></p><p>After moving away from the US in the wake of the 2002 attempted coup against Chavez, Venezuela denounced Israel for the 2006 invasion of Lebanon, which Chavez called a "<a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">new Holocaust</a>" against Palestinians and Lebanese.</p><p>The governments of Chavez and his successor, Nicolas Maduro, have been quick to condemn Israel went it comes in conflict with neighbors, especially Palestine and Iran, with whom Venezuela has formed close alliances. And their <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">broad rhetoric</a> has been accused of <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dina-siegel-vann/official-antisemitism-sub_b_1305309.html" target="_blank">stoking</a> anti-Semitic attitudes and <a href="http://www.jta.org/2009/02/01/news-opinion/world/concern-criticism-follow-venezuelan-synagogue-attack" target="_blank">behavior</a>.</p><p><span>"For several years, we have seen anti-Semitic accusations and themes appear in Venezuelan public discourse," Jonathan A. Greenblatt, chief executive of the Anti-Defamation League <a href="http://www.adl.org/press-center/press-releases/anti-semitism-international/adl-repulsed-by-shockingly-graphic-anti-Semitic-imagery-venezuelan-journal.html" target="_blank">said</a> in August 2016, in response to anti-Semitic imagery that appeared on a Venezuelan magazine.</span></p><p><span>"<span>At present, most Venezuelan Jews do not face open discrimination from their neighbors," Daniel Lansberg-Rodriguez, a Foreign Policy contributor and professor at Northwestern, <a href="http://foreignpolicy.com/2014/08/15/venezuelas-government-sponsored-anti-semitism/" target="_blank">wrote</a> in late 2014. "Even so, a sense of dread and isolation is pervasive among much of the community."</span></span></p><p><span><span></span></span></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/586d5ffbee14b63e338b4e94-2400" alt="Venezuela Iran Jews Mahmoud Ahmadinejad" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Laura Vera" data-mce-caption="A man puts up a sign outside the embassy of Iran during a protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Caracas, November 25, 2009. Opposition parties and the Jewish community criticized a visit by Ahmadinejad to Venezuela, citing worries over his denial of the Holocaust, human-rights violations and Iran's nuclear program. The sign reads &amp;quotMillions of dead Jews tell you to get out.&quot;" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Laura Vera</span></p><p class="caption">A man puts up a sign reading "Millions of dead Jews tell you to get out" outside the Iranian embassay during a protest against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to Venezuela, in Caracas, November 25, 2009.</p></div><p></p></div></div><p></p><p>Chavez expelled the Israeli ambassador in 2009, and the two countries still do not have diplomatic relations, which complicates Venezuelan Jews' efforts to relocate.</p><p>In the last month, nine such immigrants have found their efforts to move stymied by the resistance of the Israeli government.</p><p>Israel's <keyword id="6355470" type="CITY" weightage="60" keywordseo="Law">law</keyword> of return requires Jews of choice who want to relocate to Israel to have been converted in a "recognized Jewish community" with a full-time rabbi and an active synagogue, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762617" target="_blank">according</a> to Haaretz.</p><p>The nine Venezuelans were <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762617" target="_blank">converted</a> by a Conservative rabbinical court in 2014, after three years of study. Their hometown, Maracay, does not have a recognized Jewish community, but the group joined a synagogue in the nearby city of Valencia, where the Jewish community is recognized.</p><p>Despite that, Israel's Interior Ministry <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762617" target="_blank">told</a> Haaretz that "during the entire period when they were preparing for their conversion and in the period that followed, they did not belong to a Jewish community."</p><p>The decision has spurred frustration and criticism from a number of people from across Judaism's denominations.</p><p>Documentation provided to the Jewish Agency - recommendations from which the Israeli Interior Ministry typically bases its immigration-eligibility decisions on - confirmed that the nine Venezuelans had joined the community in Valencia. In this case, it appears that the ministry <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">disregarded</a> the agency's recommendation, and the chairman of the agency is <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">reportedly</a> considering intervening.</p><p>During a special Israeli parliament session at the end of December, at which American rabbis were present, Israel's government was rebuked for its decision.</p><p>"These nine individuals underwent conversions that were 100 percent in line with the Law of Return, and I am saying that as an Orthodox rabbi," said Asher Lopatin, a modern Orthodox rabbi, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762617" target="_blank">according</a> to Haaretz. "They must be allowed to come to Israel."</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/586d612dee14b637588b614f-2400" alt="Israel Ethiopia immigrant Jews protest racism police brutality" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Amir Cohen" data-mce-caption="Israeli policemen detain a protestor during an anti-racism protest in Tel Aviv, June 3, 2015. Israeli police locked arms to push back hundreds of ethnic Ethiopian anti-racism protesters in Tel Aviv, where many tried to block a major traffic artery. Police said two protesters of some 400 protesters at the scene were detained. Television photographers saw five demonstrators led away. There were no reported injuries in the confrontation that stretched into several hours. The shirt reads &amp;quotPart of solving the problem is to talk about it - Racism.&quot;" /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Amir Cohen</span></p><p class="caption">Israeli policemen detain a protestor during an anti-racism protest in Tel Aviv, June 3, 2015. The shirt reads "Part of solving the problem is to talk about it - Racism."</p></div><p></p></div></div><p></p><p><a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/wife-of-israeli-minister-tweets-racist-joke-about-president-obama-2015-6" target="_blank">Race and ethnicity</a> and their relation to Israel's immigration decisions have been a controversial topic. The country has approved <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-35475403" target="_blank">less than 1%</a> of the asylum applications it's received since signing the UN Refugee Convention 60 years ago.</p><p>Israel has also been resistant to granting asylum to African refugees, about <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/31/opinion/sunday/exposures-israel-chilly-reception-for-african-asylum-seekers.html" target="_blank">60,000 of whom</a> have entered the country since 2005 - former Interior Minister Eli Yishai <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/10/31/opinion/sunday/exposures-israel-chilly-reception-for-african-asylum-seekers.html" target="_blank">said</a> Israel's intention was to "make their lives miserable."</p><p>"Sadly it is all too common that issues of race and denominational affiliation play into the decisions made by the Interior Ministry," Andy Sacks, a rabbi and director of the Conservative movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, said, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762617" target="_blank">according</a> to Haaretz. Sacks also said the Israeli prime minister's office ignored his requests to intervene.</p><p></p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table float_right"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5692870c5124c92f5f8b456c-768" alt="Aryeh Deri served time in prison for taking  Dollar 155,000 in bribes" data-mce-source="© AFP Gali Tibbon" data-mce-caption="Aryeh Deri served time in prison for taking $155,000 in bribes" /><p class="source"><span>© AFP Gali Tibbon</span></p><p class="caption">Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri.</p></div><p></p></div></div><p></p><p>Reuven Hammer, a rabbi and former president of the <keyword id="6356001" type="COMPANY" weightage="60" keywordseo="international">International</keyword> Rabbinical Assembly of the Conservative movement, told Haaretz the ministry's decision indicated a "<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">hidden agenda</a>" against non-Orthodox converts.</p><p>The current interior minister, Aryeh Deri, is the chairman of the ultra-Orthodox Shas party.</p><p>Orthodox rabbis have spoken out against the decision, with one calling it a "<a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">dangerous precedent</a>" during a meeting at the Israeli parliament and another <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">telling</a> Haaretz that the Venezuelans' conversions were valid and that they should be allowed to immigrate.</p><p>"These people, regardless of the denomination of their conversions, decided to unite their destiny to that of our people," Daniel Askenazi, an Orthodox rabbi and spiritual leader of the Jewish community in the western Colombia city of Barranquilla, <a href="http://www.haaretz.com/world-news/americas/.premium-1.762887" target="_blank">told</a> Haaretz. "It is our duty as Jews to raise our voices and demand that the State of Israel ... expedite the adsorption of these people."</p>     <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/john-kerry-explains-us-abstained-un-resolution-israel-two-state-palestine-gaza-strip-netanyahu-2016-12">'Friends need to tell each other the hard truths': Kerry explains why the US abstained from the UN resolution on Israel</a></h3>        <div>            <div>    <script src="http://player.ooyala.com/v3/6e12e8b3387a44daacfb73afba25a76e"></script>    <div class="ooyala-video-player" data-video-autoplay="false" data-video-id="c4YWFtODE6pT1opCN8Dcts97FeN60wOr" data-player-variable="ooyalapopvideo" id="ooyalaplayer_popvideo" style="width:1280px;height:720px"></div>    <script>    if (typeof RunFunctions === 'undefined') { var RunFunctions = []; }     RunFunctions.push(function()    {         var ooyalapopvideo = OO.Player.create('ooyalaplayer_popvideo', 'c4YWFtODE6pT1opCN8Dcts97FeN60wOr',{ autoplay: 'false' });     });    </script>    <noscript><div>Please enable Javascript to watch this video</div></noscript></div>        </div>        <script>(function() { function createPlayer() { OO.ready(function() { RunFunctions.forEach(function(ooyalaFunction) { ooyalaFunction(); }); RunFunctions = [];}); } createPlayer(); }()); </script>    </div>

Venezuelan Jews have started migrating to Israel, but not all of them have been welcomed

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e0dbbc1f84893b008b4f96-1600/ap16113746719978.jpg" alt="iran deal" data-mce-source="Frank Franklin II/AP" data-mce-caption="Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in 2016." data-link="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/United-States-Iran-Meeting/7e2bf8ac50994c2084e4d90598f86eb8/19/0" /><p class="source"><span><a href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/United-States-Iran-Meeting/7e2bf8ac50994c2084e4d90598f86eb8/19/0">Frank Franklin II/AP</a></span></p><p class="caption">Former US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, meets with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in 2016.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>The Iran nuclear deal was signed in July 2015 between Iran and six world powers - the US, UK, France, Germany, Russia, and China.</strong></li><li><strong>The agreement significantly reduces Iran's enriched uranium, nuclear centrifuges, and nuclear weapons capabilities.</strong></li><li><strong>The International Atomic Energy Agency is charged with making sure that Iran does not violate the terms of the deal.</strong></li><li><strong>In return for its compliance, Iran has been relieved of damaging economic sanctions.</strong></li></ul><p>Former President Barack Obama often cited the Iran nuclear deal as among the most important accomplishments of his presidency. The two-year-old agreement, however, could be under threat as President Donald Trump mulls over its merits.</p><p>The terms of the agreement were negotiated from 2013-2015 between Iran and a group of nations known as the P5+1, which includes five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council - the US, France, China, Russia, and the UK - plus Germany.</p><p>The deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), aims to incentivize Iran to curb its nuclear weapons program by lifting crippling international economic sanctions.</p><p>Here's a breakdown of what the agreement actually says:<br /><br /><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59de451692406c33768b50c5-1826/gettyimages-103527977.jpg" alt="Iran nuclear" data-mce-source="IIPA via Getty Images" data-mce-caption="This handout image supplied by the IIPA (Iran International Photo Agency) shows a view of the reactor building at the Russian-built Bushehr nuclear power plant as the first fuel is loaded, on August 21, 2010 in Bushehr, southern Iran." /><p class="source"><span>IIPA via Getty Images</span></p><p class="caption">A nuclear reactor in southern Iran.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Reduction of enriched uranium and nuclear centrifuges</h2><p>Iran previously had nearly 20,000 nuclear centrifuges and several facilities specializing in uranium enrichment, the process by which nuclear weapons can be made. The JCPOA <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-33521655">significantly reduced</a> the capability of two main facilities to produce enriched uranium by cutting back Iran's low-enriched uranium stockpile by 98% as well as the number of nuclear centrifuges.</p><p>One of the facilities near the Iranian village of Fordow has been converted into a science research center. No enrichment development is allowed in Fordow for 15 years. The other facility in Natanz will still be able to produce enriched uranium, but it can't operate more than 5,060 centrifuges. This limitation will last for eight years and enrichment at Natanz must not exceed more than 3.67%.</p><p>There is a third heavy-water nuclear facility in the town of Arak where Iranian scientists were also working to develop nuclear bomb capabilities with the use of plutonium. The JCPOA put a halt to construction of the site and banned Iran from building similar heavy-water nuclear reactors for 15 years.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e0dc5a1f848906058b4e84-2400/ap862947430423 1.jpg" alt="iran deal" data-mce-source="AP" data-mce-caption="In this file photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif listen to the Iranian national anthem ahead of the &amp;quotWorld Against Violence and Extremism,&quot; conference in Tehran, Iran." /><p class="source"><span>AP</span></p><p class="caption">Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, right, and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Monitoring Iran</h2><p>Determining how Iran would be held accountable for keeping up its end of the agreement was a tricky part of the deal.</p><p>To ensure accountability, Iran agreed to allow the International Atomic Energy Agency - a nuclear weapons watchdog group - to access all of its nuclear facilities or any sites it deems suspicious. The IAEA is responsible for confirming that Iran does not establish any secret locations for developing nuclear weapons or violate any terms of the deal.</p><p>The "snap-back" provision of the agreement provides another line of <keyword id="6354810" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="60" keywordseo="Defense">defense</keyword>. This would allow the P5+1 powers to put back into place any sanctions in the event that Iran violates any terms of the deal.</p><p>These monitoring mechanisms were some of the most controversial aspects of the JCPOA. While Democrats have <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/11/us/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-senate.html">applauded </a>what they refer to as some of the most restrictive regulations on Iranian nuclear capabilities in the country's history, Republicans <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/iran-deal-faces-u-s-lawmakers-scrutiny-1436868209?mg=prod/accounts-wsj">contend</a> that Iran will still be able to cheat the system.</p><p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/59e0ddcc1f848923008b4fb7-2400/rtx1ajnb.jpg" alt="John Kerry Javad Zarif" data-mce-source="REUTERS/Jason DeCrow" data-mce-caption="U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry (L), meets with Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif in New York April 27, 2015." /><p class="source"><span>REUTERS/Jason DeCrow</span></p><p class="caption">World powers agreed to the Iran nuclear deal in July 2015.</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><h2>Sanctions relief</h2><p>The US implemented economic sanctions on Iran following the 1979 revolution, which continued for decades. The US sanctions were expanded in 1995, and in 2006 the UN Security Council added more restrictions due to Iran's refusal to curb its nuclear enrichment program.</p><p>These sanctions cost Iran billions of dollars and significantly hurt its oil and financial sectors.</p><p>The JCPOA called for the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions. In 2016, the US and several European nations <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/17/world/middleeast/iran-sanctions-lifted-nuclear-deal.html">relieved</a> Iran of the sanctions after IAEA inspectors confirmed Iranian officials were complying with the deal. A total of $100 billion worth of frozen Iranian assets in the US was released in the process.</p><p>The $100 billion in assets was a sticking point for many Republicans who <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/whats-in-irans-100-billion-in-frozen-assets-2015-7">argue</a> that Iran would use the money to fund overseas terrorist groups.</p><p>After the Iran deal went into effect, Congress passed a law that required the president to certify the agreement every 90 days and approve that Iran is complying. Trump has already certified the deal twice, but <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2017/10/iran-deal-trump-next/542379/">this time</a> he has signaled he may not.</p><p>Even if Trump does not certify the deal, <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/why-cant-trump-rip-up-iran-deal-2017-10">it won't necessarily spell the end of it</a>. At that point, Congress would have to decide whether to revoke it altogether or try to improve it. Either way, the deal's future remains up in the air.</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/firings-trump-administration-anthony-scaramucci-fired-resignation-steve-bannon-2017-8">Tom Price resigns after controversy over private flights - here are the casualties of the Trump administration so far</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/DBwCcsq5-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

Here's a breakdown of what the Iran nuclear deal actually does

<p><div class="KonaFilter image-container display-table"><div><div class="image on-image"><img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5a206d643dbef484008b9527-2400/ap17158761044117.jpg" alt="tom cotton" data-mce-source="AP Photo/Alex Brandon" data-mce-caption="Sen. Tom Cotton during a hearing on Capitol Hill" /><p class="source"><span>AP Photo/Alex Brandon</span></p><p class="caption">Sen. Tom Cotton during a hearing on Capitol Hill</p></div><p></p></div></div></p><ul><li><strong>President Donald Trump is weighing a national security shakeup that could involve replacing CIA Director Mike Pompeo with Arkansas Sen.Tom Cotton.</strong></li><li><strong>Several CIA veterans reacted with alarm to the news on Thursday, characterizing Cotton as too partisan and inexperienced to lead the agency and expressing concern over his views on torture.</strong></li><li><strong>"It is bothersome that, so far as one can tell, he knows absolutely nothing about the intelligence community," one former CIA official said.</strong></li></ul><hr /><p><br />Several CIA veterans reacted with alarm on Thursday to news that Republican Sen. Tom Cotton could replace Mike Pompeo as head of the intelligence agency within the next two months.</p><p><span>It is unclear whether Cotton, a combat veteran and Senate freshman, would accept the position if nominated by President Donald Trump. Cotton's spokesman said on Thursday that his "focus is</span> on serving Arkansans in the Senate."</p><p>But Trump's chief of staff John Kelly is reportedly spearheading a national security shake-up that would involve installing Pompeo as secretary of state and Cotton as CIA director. Rex Tillerson, whose leadership of the State Department has been criticized by both career department employees and the president, would be ousted.</p><p>"This is an awful appointment," said Paul Pillar, a 28-year veteran of the CIA, of Cotton's potential nomination. "Sen.Cotton is a highly ideological individual who is not well-suited to lead an agency part of whose core mission is objective analysis."</p><p>Pillar pointed to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/03/09/world/middleeast/document-the-letter-senate-republicans-addressed-to-the-leaders-of-iran.html?_r=1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a letter Cotton wrote</a> to top Iranian leaders in March 2015 warning them against striking a nuclear deal with then-President Barack Obama. The letter was signed by 47 Senate Republicans and infuriated the White House, which viewed it as an inappropriate congressional intervention in sensitive diplomatic negotiations. </p><p>"We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei," the letter read.</p><p>"It's hard to imagine someone who would do something like that, something so contrary to accepted foreign policy procedure, providing objective leadership on issues related to Iran," Pillar said.</p><p>Former CIA analyst Ned Price, who served as a National Security Council spokesman under Obama, shared concerns over the future of the US's relationship with Iran if placed in the hands of Pompeo at the State Department and Cotton at the CIA. </p><p>"I certainly think Cotton will continue much of what Pompeo started," Price said, referring to a common perception of Pompeo's CIA leadership as partisan and motivated, at least in part, by loyalty to Trump. </p><p>"And with these two at the helm of these institutions, it's much more likely that we'll find ourselves moving towards regime change with Iran," Price added. "The Iran deal is toast - that's a given - but the march to war will become much more viable. It's something they've coordinated on even in their current posts, and it surely will pick up if this comes to pass."</p><p>As the New Yorker's Jeffrey Toobin noted in <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/11/13/is-tom-cotton-the-future-of-trumpism" target="_blank" rel="noopener">a lengthy profile</a> of Cotton published earlier this month, undermining and the Iran nuclear deal in an attempt to wholly dismantle it has been a touchstone of Cotton's young Senate career. (He was elected in 2015.)</p><p>"I told the President in July that he shouldn't certify that Iran was complying with the agreement," Cotton told Toobin. "Putting aside the issue of technical compliance or noncompliance, it's clear that the agreement is not in our national interest."</p><h2>Lack of experience working in intelligence</h2><p>Beyond Cotton's position on the Iran deal, however, some CIA veterans are nervous about his lack of experience working with the intelligence community.</p><p><span>"He seems bright enough," said former CIA counsel Bob Deitz. "He went to my favorite law school. But it is bothersome that, so far as one can tell, he knows absolutely nothing about the intelligence community. The CIA is not an easy agency to lead because of its varied missions. Of course he may be a quick learner. I hope that is true."</span><span></span></p><p>While serving in the Army in 2006, Cotton <a href="http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/04/when-tom-cotton-mailed-it-in-to-the-times.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener">wrote a letter to three New York Times reporters</a> who broke a story about a classified program run by the CIA and the Treasury Department that tracked the financing of terror networks. He told the reporters that they should be in jail for publishing the details of the program.</p><p>"Having graduated from Harvard Law and practiced with a federal appellate judge and two Washington law firms before becoming an infantry officer, I am well-versed in the espionage laws relevant to this story and others - laws you have plainly violated," Cotton wrote. "By the time we return home, maybe you will be in your rightful place: not at the Pulitzer announcements, but behind bars."</p><p>As <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-cia-pick-tom-cotton-blasted-by-interrogators" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Beast's Spencer Ackerman noted</a>, Cotton was "plainly wrong about the law."</p><p>"Leaking classified material is criminal; publishing it is not," Ackerman wrote.</p><p>Former congressional intelligence staffer Mieke Eoyang, now the vice president for the national security program at the think tank Third Way, said on Twitter that one upside to Cotton running the CIA is that he would be forced to suppress his partisan outbursts.</p><p>"He'd stop organizing counterproductive Senate letters. He'd have to shut up about his successes. He'd have to take the hit for any intelligence failures," Eoyang said. She added that "classified information restrictions limit what he can say/do."</p><h2>Controversial views on torture</h2><p>Others, like longtime CIA intelligence officer Glenn Carle, are concerned about Cotton's views on torture. Cotton told CNN last November that "waterboarding isn't torture," arguing that "Donald Trump is a pretty tough guy and he's ready to make those tough calls" when it comes to the use of controversial and extreme interrogation methods. </p><p><a href="http://thehill.com/policy/defense/231853-republican-senator-gitmo-detainees-can-rot-in-hell" target="_blank" rel="noopener">In 2015, </a>Cotton said that "the <span>only problem with Guantánamo Bay is there are too many empty beds and cells there right now."</span></p><p>"We should be sending more terrorists there," Cotton said in reference to the infamous detention facility. "As far as I'm concerned, every last one of them can rot in hell. But as long as they can't do that, they can rot in Guantánamo Bay."</p><p>Carle, who wrote a book about his involvement in the interrogation of a man believed in the early 2000's to be a top Al-Qaeda member, said that Cotton is "wholly unfit" to be CIA director.</p><p><span>"It will be difficult" for the CIA's career employees "to</span> work under someone who is a zealot and thinks that torture is not torture," Carle said. "Cotton is an ideologue and a partisan, and his views are not only out of the mainstream - they challenge tenets of our core American values."</p>    <div class="margin-top">        <h3>NOW WATCH: <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/hyeonseo-lee-on-life-under-a-dictatorship-north-korea-refugee-defector-2016-1">A North Korean defector tells us what life was like under a dictatorship</a></h3>        <div>            <iframe class="bijwplayerclass" data-player="jwplayer" src="https://content.jwplatform.com/players/cEcg5tt3-CEZHWCBG.html" width="100%" height="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="auto" style="margin:0px;" allowfullscreen=""></iframe><script>function receiveMessage(event){ console.log(event.data.fullscreen); Android.fullscreen(event.data.fullscreen); }window.addEventListener("message", receiveMessage, false);</script>        </div>    </div>

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