On Iran: Congress, Please Step Aside
10/20/14
Navid Hassibi
Congress, Nonproliferation, Iran, United States
Congress must work to be part of the solution when it comes to an Iran nuclear deal, not the problem.
While Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif
and High Representative Catherine Ashton gathered last week to
kick-start a new round of negotiations between the so-called P5+1 and
Iran in efforts to meet a looming November 24
deadline to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement, one particular
actor has been implicitly threatening to sabotage the entire process—the
U.S. Congress. Considering Congress’s dismal approval ratings, and polls
indicating that a large majority of Americans favor making a nuclear
deal with Iran, Congress is hardly representing the majority of the
American people on the issue of a nuclear deal with Iran and is towing a
tough line seemingly intent on derailing any prospective breakthrough
on the nuclear issue.
Earlier
this month, over 350 members of the U.S. House of Representatives
signed and sent a letter to Secretary Kerry expressing concern over
Iran’s missed deadline for the International Atomic Energy Agency’s
(IAEA) investigation into prior possible military dimensions (PMD) to
Iran’s nuclear program. Essentially, the letter asserts that information
on PMD is necessary to assess Iran’s current and future nuclear
activity, which, as duly noted by Paul Pillar in the National Interest,
is an assertion that lacks logic and is an issue likely being pursued
by congressional opponents of a nuclear agreement, precisely because it
will be a “deal killer”.
Read full articlehttp://nationalinterest.org/feature/iran-congress-please-step-aside-11497
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