Group of House Dems Oppose Iran Deal, Threatening Agreement

Officials say deal is close, Iran pushes US to finalize deal

After protracted negotiations in Vienna, the P5+1 nuclear deal is at hand, with several nations trading blame for the delays. The big issue right now is in Congress, where an open letter from House Democrats and a few Republicans set out opposition to the pact.

Their opposition is on a few fairly minor quibbles, like reports that certain Iranian officials might get removed from sanctions lists, and the Revolutionary Guards might be removed from the terrorist list.

Beyond that were objections to speculation that the Russians might benefit from Iran sanctions relief, at a time when the US is slapping more and more sanctions on the Russians.

That was already a concern of Russia’s, that the new US sanctions on them could interfere with their obligations on the Iran deal. The US is still accusing Russia of slowing the deal by being concerned at that.

In the end the big obstacle is squarely the US, where Congress has factions, driven by the Israel Lobby, that are going to oppose the deal no matter what. Officials say they don’t think the House Dems in this latest letter are enough to derail the talks, but will keep the US split on deal-making.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.