Iran, World Powers Reach Nuclear Agreement
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif leaves a final press conference of Iran nuclear talks in Vienna. Getty Images
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The world powers have finally reached a deal that limits Iran's uranium enrichment for up to 15 years in exchange for lifting sanctions. Now Congress has its say.INTERNATIONAL
Iran, World Powers Reach Nuclear Agreement
Terms will limit Iran’s uranium enrichment for up to 15 years in exchange for lifting sanctions.
JTA
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif leaves a final press conference of Iran nuclear talks in Vienna. Getty Images
TEL AVIV — Iran and world powers including the United States reached a final agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program.
Diplomats from the six countries negotiating the accord — the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Russia and China — were meeting Tuesday afternoon in Vienna following two years of U.S.-led negotiations and three weeks of this last round of talks. They plan to release the agreement’s details following the meeting.
“I think we all know that the decision we are going to take today is not only on Iran’s nuclear program but it is much, much more than this,” Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said at the start of the meeting. “It is a decision that can open the way to a new chapter in international relations and show that diplomacy, coordination, cooperation can overcome decades of tensions and confrontations.”
The agreement reportedly will limit Iran’s uranium enrichment for up to 15 years in exchange for lifting international sanctions on Iran. The sides have reportedly agreed on an inspections regime that would allow monitors full access to Iran’s nuclear sites — though the inspectors would have to give advance notice before the inspections.
The United Nations Security Council is expected to endorse the deal in a resolution. The agreement, according to reports, will last 10 to 15 years.
Israel has stridently opposed the prospective accord. On Sunday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that the agreement “paves Iran’s way to many nuclear bombs.”
“Iran does not hide its intention to continue its murderous aggression even against those with whom it is negotiating,” he said Sunday. “Perhaps there is someone among the great powers who is prepared to capitulate to this reality that Iran is dictating, which includes its unending calls for the destruction of Israel – we will not pay the price for this.”
editor@jewishweek.org
One thing's for sure, all eyes will be on Senator Chuck Schumer as he attempts to become Senate Majority Leader while remaining what he likes to call a "guardian of Israel," political columnist Doug Bloomfield writes. OPINION
After Iran Deal, Watching Senator Schumer's Balancing Act
Doug Bloomfield
Jewish Week Online Columnist
The white smoke that wafted out of the chimney Tuesday at Palais Coburg in Vienna signaled the start of an intense lobbying campaign on Capitol Hill over the fate of the Iranian nuclear agreement, pitting two longtime adversaries, Barack Obama and Benjamin Netanyahu.
A primary object of their attention will be Sen. Chuck Schumer, the man who claims the title "Shomer Yisrael," guardian of Israel, and wants to be the next Senate Democratic leader. The challenge facing the Brooklyn Democrat is how to retain both titles.
Although an outspoken critic of Iran and advocate of tough sanctions, he has been careful not to tip his hand, insisting he wants to see the details of the agreement before making any commitment, an uncommon example of statesmanship in an environment in which most Republicans will automatically oppose any agreement that wears President Obama's imprint.
Schumer, now number three in Senate Democratic hierarchy, is the chosen (and presumptive) successor to retiring leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
Many of his colleagues, not just the undecided, will be watching to see what Schumer does. He will be the canary in the coalmine who will give the first signals as to whether the deal can survive or will quickly run out of air.
He will be watched for his dual roles as a party and Jewish leader – he has boasted of being Netanyahu's best friend on Capitol Hill. As he goes on the Iran agreement many of his Democratic colleagues are likely to follow, knowing they have the cover of their next leader and a pro-Israel shtarker with nearly 1.8 million Jewish constituents.
Schumer is already under intense pressure from Jewish organizations and machers, particularly on the right. He is the top target of a multi-million-dollar ad and lobbying campaign urging his constituents to tell him to vote no.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the well-funded lobby group that has led the anti-Iran movement for more than two decades and is close to Netanyahu and Congressional Republicans, is leading the campaign against the Iran agreement. It has mobilized its members, particularly major political contributors, to personally pressure lawmakers to oppose the deal.
Their strategy is to set the bar unrealistically high and then insist the deal should be scrapped unless it meets AIPAC's five demands: unimpeded "anytime, anywhere" inspections, including military facilities; full disclosure of prior weaponization efforts; no sanction relief until Iran has complied with its commitments; "decades" long term of agreement and inspections, and dismantling of Iran's nuclear infrastructure.
These are essentially Netanyahu's terms as well, and they are shared by other opponents of the agreement. They have names like the American Security Initiative, the Emergency Committee for Israel, a creation of Bill Kristol, a Republican neocon who is often to the right of even Netanyahu; the Israel Project, run by former AIPAC spokesman Josh Block; Secure America Now, a Tea Party affiliate, and Christians United for Israel.
Weighing in on the left will be Americans for Peace Now and J Street, the pro-peace lobby. They are much smaller but have one advantage: they more closely reflect the views of the broader Jewish community.
A national survey of 1,000 American Jews for J Street last month showed 59 percent supported a compromise agreement; that's higher than the 53 percent of the general U.S. population when CNN asked the identical question.
The primary lobbying target will be legislators up for reelection next year, particularly Jews and Democrats.
Actually, they won't be voting on the actual agreement. Once the pact is signed it must be sent to Congress, which will have 60 days to decide whether to permit the President to waive or suspend congressionally mandated sanctions. It can vote for a resolution to disapprove, approve or take no action. In the latter two, the President would be free to act as he wished.
Republicans are expected to vote almost unanimously against Obama's major foreign policy initiative, not on the merits of the agreement but out of spite and politics. So look for resolutions of disapproval to easily pass both chambers because Republicans have majorities. The President will veto the resolution and he will need only one third plus one of the votes in either chamber to sustain his veto. The primary target will be the Senate, where Obama will need 34 of the 46 Democrats, assuming Republicans vote en bloc.
And that's why Schumer's vote is so critical. He has called this one of the toughest decisions he's ever had to make. He will face enormous pressure from the White House, from his friend Bibi, from pro-Likud Jewish organizations and from single-issue pro-Israel Jewish political donors.
Schumer hasn't hesitated to criticize the administration's approach to Iran or to support toughening sanctions, but that doesn't mean he shares Netanyahu's enthusiasm for a military strike, calling it the "next worst" option to Tehran actually getting the bomb.
If he joins the opposition and brings down the President's Iran deal, he can give cover to Democrats who want to vote against it, but that is highly likely to endanger his chances of becoming Senate Democratic leader.
Leading pro-Israel Democrats on the AIPAC-led opposition's target list include Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the ranking member of the appropriations committee; Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, ranking member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, chair of the Democratic National Committee who represents a very hawkish Jewish constituency; Rep. Steny Hoyer of Maryland, number two in the House Democratic leadership, and Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Michael Bennett of Colorado, John Tester of Montana and Chris Coons of Delaware. All but Hoyer, Tester and Coons are Jews.
While Netanyahu and his supporters attack the agreement as a threat to the survival of the Jewish people, senior Israeli military and security officials are privately telling Israeli media outlets a very different story. Reuters reported the generals are saying intensified international inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities and scaling back of its uranium enrichment will "allow for the supposition that, in the coming period of years, this is a threat in decline." You can expect the Pentagon to share this assessment with its friends on the Hill.
The saddest part of all this is that what should be a vigorous debate on the merits of a very complex diplomatic initiative will instead be mostly a highly partisan food fight. Sen. Schumer, with his unique qualifications, is one of very few lawmakers who can steer it in a more productive direction.
editor@jewishweek.org
American Jewish organizations have split in their reaction to the deal along predictable political lines. The right wing condemns, the left wing praises.INTERNATIONAL
American Jewish Reaction To Agreement Splits On Political Lines
Right wing condemns Iran nuclear deal, left wing praises it.
Steve Lipman
Staff Writer
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several rightwing American Jewish organizations today condemned the nuclear deal announced between the United States and Iran. Some reacted with cautious skepticism, but leftwing Jewish groups in the U.S. praised the agreement.
The agreement, reached after extensive negotiations between the US, Iran and the Obama administration’s P5+1 partners – France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China – requires Iran to roll back and limit its nuclear program. “Every pathway to a nuclear weapon is cut off,” President Obama said in a speech from the White House this morning.
Netanyahu called the agreement, which includes a lifting of U.S. sanctions on Iran, “an historic mistake for the world. When you are willing to make an agreement at any cost, this is the result.”
Opponents of the agreement will hold a “Stop Iran Now Mega Rally” on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. in Times Square. The rally (#StopIranRally) is one of the sponsors of the demonstration, whose speakers will include Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick, attorney and Jewish activist Alan Dershowitz, and former CIA director James Woolsey.
Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress said in a statement “we may have entered into an agreement that revives the Iranian economy but won’t stop this regime from developing nuclear arms in the long term.” He called the nuclear deal, which needs ratification by the US Congress, “just a piece of paper … not a legally binding treaty.”
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs called the threat posed by a nuclear Iran “a matter of the greatest concern,” and stressed the importance of world leaders staying “focused on the ultimate goal: preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. The sixty-day Congressional review window opens a critical period to examine the agreement and ensure that it has the rigorous inspection and compliance components that are necessary.”
Similarly, American Jewish Committee Executive Director David Harris said, “It is now incumbent on the United States Congress … to thoroughly review, debate, and, ultimately, vote it up or down. “
“The nuclear deal concluded in Vienna does not appear to address other extremely troubling aspects of Iranian behavior,” Harris said – “Iran’s ICBM program … its repeated calls, including in recent days, for the annihilation of Israel … its direct involvement in terrorism and support for terrorist groups.”
Americans for Peace Now President Debra DeLee praised the deal. “The achievement of this landmark deal demonstrates that where there is a sufficient political will, diplomacy can work,” she said, adding that “key elements” of the agreement “will make Israel, the region and the world more secure.”
J Street said it welcomed the deal, which it said “appears to meet the critical criteria around which a consensus of the US and international non-proliferation experts has formed for a deal that verifiably blocks each of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon.”
The deal, said The Jewish Voice for Peace, represents “the only way to alleviate international concern about Iran’s nuclear program and avert war.”
Douglas Bloomfield, a syndicated columnist and former legislative director for AIPAC, wrote that a focus of Congressional debate on the agreement will by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-NY), who has given himself the title “Shomer Yisrael” (guardian of Israel), for his record of protecting the interests of the Jewish state. “Many of his colleagues … will be watching to see what Schumer does,” Bloomfield wrote this week. “He will be the canary in the coalmine who will give the first signals as to whether the deal can survive or will quickly run out of air.”
"This deal meets zero of the criteria for a good deal - it is not enforceable, verifiable, or in America's national security interest,” said Matt Brooks, executive director of theRepublican Jewish Coalition. " Unless Congress stops it, the world will be less safe as the United States will remove sanctions on Iran, and in return, Iran will still pursue nuclear weapons. If it passes, it will mark a low point for American foreign relations and worldwide security."
steve@jewishweek.org
Helen Chernikoff
Web Editor
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