On Sept. 30, 1938, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain signed the infamous Munich Agreement along with French Prime Minister Edouard Daladier and German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler. The pact ceded Sudetenland to Germany and forced Czechoslovakia to evacuate the ceded territory, abandoned as it was by its allies. Chamberlains acclamations of "peace with honor" and "peace in our time," became hollow less than a year later when Chamberlain had to ask Britain to declare war on Germany on Sept. 3, 1939, following the German invasion of Poland.

In another instance, former President John F. Kennedy lived up to the famous words in his inaugural address, "Let us never negotiate out of fear, but let us never fear to negotiate." As Chris Matthews of the New Republic tells it, Kennedy was able to avert nuclear catastrophe in the Cuban missile crisis in part by engaging in secret negotiations with former Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. In return for removal of the missiles from Cuba, Kennedy secretly promised to pull back the nuclear missiles placed in Turkey, once the attention of the media and of Republicans was sufficiently diverted.

Two deals. Two outcomes — one of war and one of peace. Now, America has set before it a third deal — with Iran concerning its nuclear program. While there are definite benefits to this deal, many of them are time-limited, and will be negated by the long-term concessions the Obama administration gave in exchange for the deal.

First, there are some concrete benefits to the deal. As part of the agreement, Iran will reduce its stores of low-enriched uranium by 98 percent, probably by moving a large amount of it to Russia. Subsequently, Iran will have to maintain a stockpile less than or equal to 300 kilograms for 15 years.

In addition, it seems to be established that the deal, for at least a decade, will lengthen to a year the amount of time it would take for Iran to make a nuclear bomb if they violate the agreement and develop a weapon as quickly as possible.

The deal would also entail a temporary two-thirds reduction in the number of centrifuges Iran is operating, and according to Secretary of State John Kerry, "Iran will not produce or acquire highly enriched uranium" or plutonium for at least 15 years.

The final benefit is that Tehran and the International Atomic Energy Agency have reached an agreement wherein Iran will answer questions about its actions within the past three months as a condition for relief from sanctions

At the same time, these benefits came at the cost of some important concessions. For instance, the deal allows Iran to make as much nuclear fuel as it desires after the first 15 years of the agreement and permits Iran to do research on advanced centrifuges after eight years.

The multilateral sanction against Iran's acquiring and selling of conventional weapons will be lifted after five years, and the ban on missiles will be lifted after eight years.

In addition, the inspections will not be "anytime, anywhere." If Iran objects to the inspection of a suspected site, then the problem would go before a council of IAEA countries.

The deal also entails certain risks. First, the easing of economic sanctions against Iran will likely free up billions of dollars of frozen funds, and considering that Iran still remains on the State Department list of state sponsors of terrorism, this windfall of money could be put to support Iran's belligerent efforts in Syria, Yemen and Lebanon.

A second risk is that, as the New York Times reports, "After the first decade, the breakout time would begin to shrink." This is especially dangerous because it not only allows Iran to go down the path of gaining a nuclear weapon, but also legitimizes its efforts to do so. If actors object to Iran's use of advanced centrifuges, Iran can simply point to the agreement as justification.

The deal's prospects of promoting long-term stability do not appear to be bright, and in this respect, the deal resembles the Munich Pact more than Kennedy's grand bargain with Khrushchev.

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