Sen. Marco Rubio criticized Secretary of State John Kerry during Thursday’s Senate Foreign Relations hearing on the Iran nuclear deal, calling it “irreparably flawed” while hitting the Obama administration for having “repeatedly capitulated” on various issues.
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The alternative to the pact achieved in Vienna “isn’t a better deal, some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation”, Kerry said, adding that to think that is a “fantasy, plain and simple”.
Designed to prevent Tehran’s theocratic regime from developing nuclear weapons, the deal imposes strict limits on Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and produce plutonium – the fuels used in warheads – in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged Iran’s economy and isolated it from the outside world.
Kerry said rejection of the deal would cause Iran to rush to develop a bomb, unrestricted, and divide the U.S. and allies who would oppose new sanctions.
But Committee Chairman Bob Corker, a Tennesse Republican, said that the U.S. had been “fleeced” and that Kerry had “turned Iran from being a pariah, to now Congress being a pariah” in the course of making the agreement.
The agreement faces strong resistance in Congress, particularly among Republicans, who have until 17 September to make a decision on whether to approve or reject the deal.
He made the remarks while testifying before Congress for the first time following the announcement of the deal, struck between Iran and world powers last week.
“If you were bamboozled, the world has been bamboozled”, said Sen.
Still, though no senators appeared to climb down from entrenched positions against and for the deal, the hearing was more notable for substance and detailed examination of the deal’s provisions rather than political fireworks.
“One of the items we don’t have is regarding the agreement between Iran and the IAEA, and my sense is we’re never going to get that letter”, said Corker. We have ended up in a situation where the deal that’s on the table basically codifies the industrialization of their nuclear program.
Susan Rice, President Obama’s national security adviser, responded by saying the details of those deals “are not public but… we know their contents, we’re satisfied with them and we will share the contents of those briefings in full in a classified session with the Congress”.
The White House is getting help from several groups, including a small, pro-deal lobbying campaign. “We can’t bomb that knowledge away”.
Obama, who could gain a boost to his presidential legacy from his diplomatic outreach to U.S. foe Iran, needs to convince as many of his fellow Democrats as possible to back the deal.
“Throughout this process, by the way, this administration, in my opinion, has repeatedly capitulated on some important items, and the examples are endless”, Rubio said, pointing to anywhere/anytime inspections and snapback sanctions. The hearing included testimony from Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz and Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew.
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Facts: While technically feasible, it would be politically impossible for the United States to snap sanctions back against European banks and companies without support from their governments, said Mark Dubowitz, executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, a sanctions expert. Find out in “Showdown with Nuclear Iran”.
