Among other issues, lawmakers said they wanted more information about the timing of sanctions relief and ability to “snap back” sanctions if Iran cheats, clarity on the timing of inspections and more answers about how much money would go to Iran.
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The vitriolic exchanges on Capitol Hill reflected a hardening of positions as Congress opened a 60-day review of the deal considered crucial to its fate.
Their talks followed last week’s agreement between Tehran and six world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear program in return for the lifting of global sanctions.
Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., the panel’s chairman, told Kerry moments after opening the hearing, “Not unlike a hotel guest that leaves only with a hotel bathrobe on his back, I believe you’ve been fleeced”.
President Barack Obama and his administration have repeatedly said that any deal with Iran must shut down Iran’s uranium enrichment pathway to a weapon, cut off all four of Iran’s potential pathways to a bomb and track Iran’s nuclear activities with unprecedented transparency and robust inspections throughout its nuclear supply chain. If it’s rejected, President Obama has threatened a veto.
Seeking to reassure Israel and its U.S. supporters, Kerry said Washington would increase security coordination.
Kerry tells the Senate Foreign Relations Committee he understands the concerns Israel has with the negotiated deal with Iran, which has threatened to destroy the Jewish state.
Even so, no matter the objections – and Republicans leveled many in a hearing that stretched until midafternoon – Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew were ready with responses.
“The fact is now Iran has extensive experience with nuclear fuel cycle technology”.
“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. Jim Risch, R-Idaho, who said the agreement wouldn’t permit testing at Iran’s Parchin military complex.
Corker chided Kerry and other administration officials for contending that the only alternative to the accord would be more war in the Middle East, saying the real alternative would be a better deal.
Saudi officials had expressed skepticism over the U.S.-led deal struck earlier this month between six world powers and Iran, Saudi’s regional rival.
It will be important for Congress to carefully review this agreement on its merits and at the same time be mindful of the likely consequences of its rejection: a collapse of diplomacy and worldwide sanctions, as Iran pushes forward with a nuclear program unimpeded. “The Iranian regime is being rewarded for its atrocious human rights record”, he said, according to Reuters. But the mood turned critical immediately as Sen.
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But conservatives point out it also enshrines a mechanism for all United Nations sanctions authorised by the previous resolutions to be automatically reimposed if Iran breaches the deal.
