Menendez said his lack of trust in Iran is rooted in his more than two decades of experience on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he has served on for more than 20 years and used to chair, and watching Iran consistently break agreements and be deceptive about its uranium-enrichment program and nuclear ambitions.
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Support and opposition for the agreement crosses party lines – former Indiana Democratic Senator Evan Bayh opposes the deal, while former Senator Richard Lugar, a Republican, supports it. Democratic Leader Harry Reid will declare his position when the Senate returns from recess September 7, when lobbying and debate in Congress over the deal is expected to intensify.
Caplan noted that before reaching her decision, Gillibrand “had conversations with people at AIPAC and met with those from Agudath Israel and other Jewish organizations on both sides, attended classified briefings, read the entire deal and spoke with nuclear arms control experts who liked and who disliked the deal”.
Mr. Menendez dismissed numerous administration’s arguments against a congressional rejection of the deal, saying he doubted that most countries of the world would risk business ties with the United States in favor of pursuing opportunities in a much smaller Iranian economy.
– If he does so, opponents would then probably try to override the veto.
Menendez won’t be among them. I’m concerned the redlines we drew have turned into green-lights; that Iran will be required only to limit rather than eliminate its nuclear program, while the global community will be required to lift the sanctions, and that it doesn’t provide for anytime-any-place inspections of suspected sites. “It failed to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state at a time of its choosing”.
The announcements are all the more important because some of the support was unexpected coming from key lawmakers who were being considered truly undecided since the deal was announced.
“A resolution to disapprove the Iran agreement may have substantial political reverberations, but limited practical impact”, says Robert Satloff, executive director of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. But that is far short of the 34 Democrats Obama will need to sustain his veto and keep the deal alive.
“With or without this deal, the day may come when we are left with no alternative but to take military action to prevent Iran from crossing the nuclear threshold”.
After the deal is rejected, President Barack Obama is also sure to veto the move, member of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission Ahmad Bakhshayesh Ardestani told Trend August 19.
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Gillibrand said if the U.S. steps away from the deal, hardliners in Iran will say the U.S. was never honest and may reject additional negotiations.
