Gardner and Rep. Mike Coffman criticized the deal announced on Tuesday to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from worldwide sanctions.
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The Iranian nuclear deal appears to have been unable to put one key issue fully to rest, leaving it to be worked out in practice despite the risk it could severely test the agreement’s viability. It is now time for the U.S. Congress to make sure the deal can be implemented.
Negotiations between Iran and six world powers – the USA, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russian Federation and Germany official began in 2013 with the election of Hassan Rouhani, the seventh and current president of Iran.
The experts have assessed the deal as “a net-plus for nuclear nonproliferation and is clearly in the interest of both the United States, its allies and partners in the Middle East, Iran, and the worldwide community”.
The agreement would also mean renewing “banking activities, including the establishment of new correspondent banking relationships and the opening of new branches and subsidiaries of Iranian banks in the territories of EU Member States”, says the document published on Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
Any effort in Congress to overturn the deal will face an uphill fight.
Speaking ahead of the session, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif called the deal a “historic moment”, although he cautioned that it was “not ideal”.
Even the most cursory review of past statements by Iran’s supreme leader and his government demonstrates that Tehran has traveled a considerable distance from its initial demands concerning the scale of uranium enrichment it needed, the intrusiveness of inspections it would tolerate, and the pace of sanctions relief it would accept. (The deal does make a few adjustments to allow trade for Iranian food and carpets and American aircraft parts.).
-SANCTIONS: All US and European Union nuclear-related sanctions will be suspended after experts have verified that Iran is hewing to its commitments.
And it marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that alternatively call each other the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and the “the Great Satan”.
GREG THIELMANN, a Newton native, former Foreign Service officer and U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee staffer, is a senior fellow of the Arms Control Association.
“Shame on the Obama administration for agreeing to a deal that empowers an evil Iranian regime to carry out its threat to “wipe Israel off the map” and bring ‘death to America, ‘” he said in a statement. We know they have been trying to cheat on this deal.
Rouhani asserted that “Iran has never ever sought a nuclear bomb”.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who penned an explosive letter in March to Iran’s leaders, described the deal as “a awful unsafe mistake” that will pave the way for a nuclear Iran.
Tel Aviv – Iran and world powers including the United States reached a final agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program. Of course, this agreement will not solve all the difficulties, especially between Iran and its neighbors.
“This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction”, Obama said.
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McConnell said congressional hearings would pay particular attention to the “concessions” that Iran was able to secure from the Obama administration. “It would be different if Iran was a good actor and had negotiated in good faith all this time, but they haven’t and we’ve caved”. Netanyahu assailed the negotiations with Iran, which has threatened to destroy Israel.
