Iran nuclear deal: Facing tough crowd in Congress, Kerry pleads for time

Appearing before a House panel that last year unanimously proposed tougher sanctions on Iran, Kerry asks for 'time and space' to deal with the delicate diplomacy over Iran's nuclear program.

|
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Secretary of State John Kerry rubs his eyes while testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday, in the hope of persuading Congress to not forge any new economic sanctions on Iran that could break the recent historic agreement that would end Iran’s progress toward weapons-grade uranium. The deal struck in Geneva prohibits the Obama administration from introducing new sanctions for six months. Iran's foreign minister has said any new package of commercial restrictions would break the agreement.

In his first appearance before Congress to defend a fledgling nuclear deal with Iran, Secretary of State John Kerry appealed to lawmakers, both Republicans and Democrats, to take a breath – and give negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program a chance.

“This is a very delicate diplomatic moment,” he said. “We have a chance to address peacefully one of the most pressing security concerns that the world faces today.”

He faced a tough crowd. After all, the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which hosted Tuesday’s hearing, unanimously proposed legislation last February to step up sanctions against Iran in a bid to “cripple” its economy and prevent a nuclear Iran.

“The pressure we have put on Iran through these sanctions is exactly what has brought Iran to the table today,” said Rep. Ed Royce (R) of California, who chairs the panel, in his opening salvo with Secretary Kerry.

By contrast, the Obama administration agreed last month to ease sanctions on Iran for six months, in exchange for international access to nuclear enrichment and reactor facilities and negotiations on the future of Iran’s nuclear program.

The pushback from many Democrats was just as pointed. Sanctions against Iran have had overwhelming, bipartisan support since at least 2010.

“I’m completely against it,” said Rep. Juan Vargas (D) of California. “Sanctions were working, but we didn’t ratchet them up enough.”

The Nov. 23 deal “seems to me to be naïve, frankly, on its face.” he added.

“I think it’s anything but naïve,” Kerry shot back. “I’ve been thinking about the Iran file for a lot of years,” he told the freshman lawmaker.

Yes, Kerry said, Congress could push stronger sanctions, but the Russians and the Chinese won’t. Even the Europeans would balk. “You’ll lose them,” he said. “Then, you’ll have undone the sanctions, not built them up.”

Moreover, if sanctions take the Iranian regime “into real extremis,” Iran, too, would likely break off the most promising negotiations with the US since the 1979 revolution.

“We’re asking you to give our negotiators and our experts the time and space to do their jobs,” Kerry said at the Tuesday hearing.

Under the deal worked negotiated last month in Geneva, Iran would get $7 billion in sanctions relief over six months. In return, it would degrade its higher-enriched uranium stockpiles, refrain from adding to the centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium, and stop building a heavy water reactor that could produce plutonium used in nuclear weapons.

By contrast, the Nuclear Iran Prevention Act, proposed by the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and passed by the House by a vote of 200 to 20 on July 31, aims to step up the sanctions regime by penalizing companies that trade with Iran, cutting purchases of Iranian crude oil by 1 million barrels per day, and shutting off access to foreign currency reserves. The Senate has yet to take up the legislation.

“I believe we need to keep the pressure on Iran and that the pressure track will actually strengthen your hand,” said Rep. Eliot Engel (D) of New York, the top Democrat on the panel.

Both White House and Iranian officials say that congressional threats to step up sanctions, even after the six-month window for negotiations, could scuttle the deal. 

Unlike most big issues in a deeply divided Congress, support for ever-tougher sanctions against Iran appears to be hard-wired into Congress’s world view.

“We’ve gotten locked into a mindset of one-upmanship on toughness toward Iran,” says Michael O’Hanlon, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington.

“The sanctions have been working. That’s evident in the election of [Iranian President Hassan] Rouhani. But in fairness to the Congress, it’s hard to know how hard-line one should be in an optimal approach.’

But with just days left before a long holiday recess and urgent budget deadlines looming, Congress is unlikely to find the floor time to make good on threats to scuttle the deal.

Material from the Associated Press was included.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Iran nuclear deal: Facing tough crowd in Congress, Kerry pleads for time
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2013/1210/Iran-nuclear-deal-Facing-tough-crowd-in-Congress-Kerry-pleads-for-time
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe