Battle Looms Over Iran Nuclear Deal As Congress Pushes Back Against Obama

THE GUARDIAN: • Democratic and Republican opponents rush to discredit deal • Fight to kick off in earnest when Congress returns next week

Congressional opponents of the US-Iran nuclear deal scrambled on Monday to attack the historic accord as inadequate and destined to fail, raising questions about the Obama administration’s ability to deliver on its potential diplomatic breakthrough.

Previewing a fight on Capitol Hill that will kick off in earnest when Congress returns next week, the administration faces a glut of critics, both Democrats and Republicans, who argue that President Obama is unravelling a hard-crafted regime of sanctions out of blind commitment for any deal, no matter how allegedly favorable to the Iranians.

Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina Republican and leading Iran hawk, blasted the deal as “so far away from what the end game should look like”. He told CNN that the goal of any deal “should be to stop enrichment".

Robert Menendez, the New Jersey Democrat who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, said in a statement: “This agreement did not proportionately reduce Iran’s nuclear program." » | Spencer Ackerman in Washington | Monday, November 25, 2013

Obama Moves May Start War

YNET NEWS: Op-ed: Netanyahu, like any responsible leader, would rather bring about WWIII than last Israelis

According to a recent news report, President Barack Obama has for over a year secretly conducted negotiations with Iran (through his adviser Valerie Jarrett), and the Geneva talks on Iranian nukes now appear to be just a facade providing international legitimacy for Obama's secret deal with Iran.

Secretary of State John Kerry's contradictory criticism of Israeli objections to that deal only suggests more bad faith by the Obama administration. Kerry claims that Israel has been kept fully apprised of the negotiations with Iran but then argues that Israel has never seen the terms of the proposed deal with Iran and therefore shouldn't question it. The Obama administration apparently wants to present the nuclear deal as a fait accompli that Israel must simply accept as is.

In what is becoming a familiar pattern, Russia is readily moving in to the Mideast areas where US influence has waned because of Obama's many fumbles in the region. Last August, Saudi Arabia made it clear that it would happily replace US aid to Egypt (highlighting one of many issues straining US relations with yet another Mideast ally).

On the issue of Iranian nukes, France has effectively replaced the US as Israel's strongest ally and as the most sober-minded advocate of caution when negotiating over the single greatest threat to global security. Incredibly, Saudi Arabia is reportedly replacing the US in providing logistical support for an Israeli strike on Iranian nukes. » | Noah Beck | Monday, November 25, 2013

Iran Nuclear Deal: Saudi Arabia Warns It Will Strike Out On Its Own

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Saudi Arabia claims they were kept in the dark by Western allies over Iran nuclear deal and says it will strike out on its own

A senior advisor to the Saudi royal family has accused its Western allies of deceiving the oil rich kingdom in striking the nuclear accord with Iran and said Riyadh would follow an independent foreign policy.

Nawaf Obaid told a think tank meeting in London that Saudi Arabia was determined to pursue its own foreign and policy goals. Having in the past been reactive to events, the leading Sunni Muslim nation was determined to be pro-active in future.

Mr Obaid said that while Saudi Arabia knew that the US was talking directly to Iran through a channel in the Gulf state of Oman, Washington had not directly briefed its ally.

"We were lied to, things were hidden from us," he said. "The problem is not with the deal struck in Geneva but how it was done."

In a statement the Saudi government gave a cautious welcome to the Geneva nuclear deal. It said "good intentions" could lead to a comprehensive agreement on Tehran's atomic programme. "This agreement could be a first step towards a comprehensive solution for Iran's nuclear programme, if there are good intentions," the Saudi government said[.]

But it warned that a comprehensive solution should lead to the "removal of all weapons of mass destruction, especially nuclear, from the Middle East and the Gulf". » | Damien McElroy | Monday, November 25, 2013

Israel Sends Team to US for Iran Talks

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Benjamin Netanyahu insists his pressure led to a better deal with Iran although it is "still a bad deal", as he announces a team will head to Washington for talks

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, will send a team led by his national security adviser to Washington for talks with the Obama administration on a permanent agreement with Iran.

A day after denouncing the deal in Geneva as a "historic mistake", Mr Netanyahu said he had held talks with President Barack Obama on Sunday night. Mr Obama is said to have reaffirmed "their shared goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

He also insisted that his vocal criticisms had helped improve the terms of the original proposed agreement that came close to being signed two weeks ago.

"It is true that the international pressure which we applied was partly successful and has led to a better result than what was originally planned but this is still a bad deal," he told members of his Likud party in the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. "It reduces the pressure on Iran without receiving anything tangible in return and the Iranians who laughed all the way to the bank are themselves saying that this deal has saved them."

He said a final agreement must lead to "one result: The dismantling of Iran's military nuclear capability." » | Robert Tait, Jerusalem and agencies | Monday, November 25, 2013

Geneva Accord: Total, Unmitigated Defeat

YNET NEWS: Op-ed: Obama abandoned US allies' security concerns by believing appeasing Iran is only way to avoid war

President Obama had to choose between dishonor and war, and he chose dishonor. Now we will have war. He has dishonored US allies in the Middle East, including Israel and the Persian Gulf states, by abandoning their security concerns regarding a nuclear Iran by believing that appeasing Iran is the only way to avoid war.

These words are those of Churchill after the Munich Agreement was signed, when Britain and France believed that handing Czechoslovakia to Hitler was the only way to save the world from another war. It is regarded as the shameful culmination of the Allies refusal to confront Nazi aggression and gave Hitler what he wanted in exchange for his verbal promise of "peace in our time" as Chamberlain called it.

After the Munich Agreement, Churchill gave a speech in the House of Commons on the future consequences to Europe and the world of the agreement which he called “total and unmitigated defeat." Following the Geneva agreement, these warnings ring as true now as they did then.

We cannot consider the abandonment of US allies only in the light of what happened the last few weeks. This agreement in Geneva is the culmination of the uninterrupted retreat of US power under Obama for the last five years in the Middle East. For five years, the president has been betraying Israel, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the UAE but accommodating enemies and tyrants like Syria’s Assad, Iran’s Khamenei, and Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood. » | Shoula Romano Horing | Sunday, November 24, 2013

Shoula Romano Horing Blog »

P5+1 & Iran Agree Landmark Nuclear Deal at Geneva Talks

The P5+1 world powers and Iran have struck a historic deal on Tehran's nuclear program at talks in Geneva. Ministers overcame the last remaining hurdles to reach an interim agreement, despite strong pressure from Israel and lobby groups.

Full Speech: President Obama Delivers Statement on Iranian Nuclear Deal

Iran Nuclear Deal Fuels Anger, Jitters in Mideast

THE BELLINGHAM HERALD: JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister harshly condemned the international community's nuclear deal with Iran on Sunday while Saudi Arabia remained conspicuously quiet, reflecting the jitters felt throughout the Middle East over Iran's acceptance on the global stage.

Elsewhere, many welcomed the agreement as an important first step toward curbing Iran's suspect nuclear program.

Israel and Western-allied Gulf countries led by Saudi Arabia have formed an unlikely alliance in their opposition to Sunday's deal, joined together by shared concerns about a nuclear-armed Iran and the Tehran's growing regional influence.

While most Gulf countries remained silent in the first hours after the deal was reached in Geneva, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wasted little time in criticizing it, calling it a "historic mistake" and saying he was not bound by the agreement.

Speaking to his Cabinet, Netanyahu said the world had become a "more dangerous place" as a result of the deal. He reiterated a long-standing threat to use military action against Iran if needed, declaring that Israel "has the right and the duty to defend itself by itself." » | Josef Federman | Associated Press | Sunday, November 24, 2014

Nuclear Deal with Iran a 'Historic Mistake', Benjamin Netanyahu Says

THE SUNDAY TELEGRAPH: Israel's top politicians speak out as one to condemn the six powers' agreement with Iran over its nuclear programme


Israel's political establishment arose in unison on Sunday to denounce as inadequate an interim agreement hammered out with Iran to rein in its nuclear programme.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, led the chorus of indignation, calling the deal struck in Geneva between Iran and the so-called P5 plus one – the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany – "a historic mistake".

"What was achieved last night in Geneva is not a historic agreement; it is a historic mistake," he told Sunday's weekly cabinet meeting "Today the world has become a much more dangerous place because the most dangerous regime in the world has taken a significant step toward attaining the most dangerous weapon in the world.

Condemning the six powers for "ignoring the UN Security Council decisions that they themselves led", he added: "This agreement and what it means endanger many countries including, of course, Israel. Israel is not bound by this agreement. The Iranian regime is committed to the destruction of Israel and Israel has the right and the obligation to defend itself, by itself, against any threat.

Mr Netanyahu's comments came after a procession of ministers and senior officials had earlier taken aim at a "bad deal" which they said effectively left Iran as a nuclear threshold state.

In the most graphic criticism, Naftali Bennett, the trade and industry minister and leader of the far-Right Jewish Home party, warned that it could be the precursor to a nuclear "suitcase bomb" attack on a major Western city. » | Robert Tait, Jerusalem | Sunday, November 24, 2013