and Obama saying in an interview, "Remember, what I said was that it's the hard-liners in Iran who are most opposed to this deal. And I said, in that sense, they're making common cause with those who are opposed to this deal here. I didn't say that they were equivalent."
In the same interview Obama said, "A sizable proportion of the Republicans were opposed before the ink was even dry on the deal."
In comments made at the Aspen Security Forum in
Aspen, Colorado
Aspen is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Pitkin County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 7,004 at the 2020 United States Census. Aspen is in a remote area of the Rocky Mounta ...
in July 2015,
Director of National Intelligence
The director of national intelligence (DNI) is a senior, cabinet-level United States government official, required by the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004 to serve as executive head of the United States Intelligence Commu ...
James Clapper
James Robert Clapper Jr. (born March 14, 1941) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Air Force and former Director of National Intelligence. Clapper has held several key positions within the United States Intelligence Community. H ...
said the JCPOA would improve the U.S.'s ability to monitor Iran: "
he agreementputs us in a far better place in terms of insight and access" than no agreement.
[Eliza Collins]
"Clapper: Iran deal gives U.S. access, insight"
''Politico'' (24 July 2015). Clapper remained "concerned about compliance and deceit" but "pointed out that during the negotiation period
ran
Ran, RaN and ran may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
* ''Ran'' (film), a 1985 film directed by Akira Kurosawa
* "Ran" (song), a 2013 Japanese song by Luna Sea
* '' Ran Online'', a 2004 MMORPG (massively multiplayer online role playing game)
* ...
complied with rules" negotiated under the interim agreement (the Joint Plan of Action).
=Public debate
=
An intense public debate in the United States took place during the congressional review period.
[Deb Riechmann]
High-stakes lobbying on Iran deal; pressure for Congress
''San Francisco Chronicle'', Associated Press (22 July 2015). "Some of the wealthiest and most powerful donors in American politics, those for and against the accord", became involved in the public debate,
[Jonathan Weisman & Nicholas Confessore]
''The New York Times'' (12 August 2015). although "mega-donors" opposing the agreement contributed substantially more money than those supporting it.
[Catherine Ho]
"Mega-donors opposing Iran deal have upper hand in fierce lobbying battle"
''The Washington Post'' (13 August 2015). From 2010 to early August 2015, the foundations of
Sheldon Adelson
Sheldon Gary Adelson (; August 4, 1933 – January 11, 2021) was an American businessman, investor, political donor and philanthropist. He was the founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Las Vegas Sands Corporation, which owns th ...
,
Paul Singer, and
Haim Saban
Haim Saban (; he, חיים סבן; born October 15, 1944) is an Israeli-American media proprietor, investor, and producer of records, film, and television. A businessman with interests in financial services, entertainment, and media, and an e ...
contributed a total of $13 million (at least $7.5 million, at least $2.6 million, and at least $2.9 million, respectively) to advocacy groups opposing an agreement with Iran.
On the other side, three groups lobbying in support of the agreement received at least $803,000 from the
Ploughshares Fund
Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to their use. Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) foundation that pools con ...
, at least $425,000 from the
Rockefeller Brothers Fund
The Rockefeller Brothers Fund (RBF) is a philanthropic foundation created and run by members of the Rockefeller family. It was founded in New York City in 1940 as the primary philanthropic vehicle for the five third-generation Rockefeller brothe ...
, and at least $68,500 from
George Soros
George Soros ( name written in eastern order), (born György Schwartz, August 12, 1930) is a Hungarian-American businessman and philanthropist. , he had a net worth of US$8.6 billion, Note that this site is updated daily. having donated mo ...
and
his foundation.
Other philanthropists and donors supporting an agreement include
S. Daniel Abraham
Sim Daniel Abraham (born August 15, 1924) is an American businessman, investor, and philanthropist. He is the founder of Thompson Medical, whose main product is Slim-Fast, a diet program. He has endowed the S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle E ...
,
Tim Gill
Tim Gill (born October 18, 1953) is an American computer software programmer, entrepreneur, philanthropist, and LGBTQ rights activist. He was among the first openly gay people to be on the Forbes 400 list of America's richest people.
He is the fo ...
,
Norman Lear
Norman Milton Lear (born July 27, 1922) is an American producer and screenwriter, who has produced, written, created, or developed over 100 shows. Lear is known for many popular 1970s sitcoms, including the multi-award winning ''All in the Famil ...
,
Margery Tabankin
Margery Tabankin (born 1948) is an American progressive political activist. She is known for serving as a conduit between Hollywood donors and liberal political causes in Washington D.C.
Biography
Tabankin became a nationally known campus radic ...
, and
Arnold Hiatt.
Others welcomed the JCPOA as a step forward.
[Ali Gharib]
"Iranian-Americans welcome nuclear deal, despite opposition to regime"
Al Jazeera America (16 July 2015). The
National Iranian American Council
The National Iranian American Council (NIAC; fa, شورای ملی ایرانیان آمریکا) is a NGO based in Washington, D.C. The NIAC Action, the sister organization of NIAC, was formed in 2015 to build political power for Iranian America ...
(NIAC),
Iranian American Bar Association
The Iranian American Bar Association ("IABA") ( fa, کانون وکلای ایرانی در آمریکا) was formed in 2000 in the District of Columbia and is a tax-exempt, non-profit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue C ...
, and other organizations welcomed the JCPOA. The NIAC released a statement saying: "Our negotiators have done their job to win a strong nuclear deal that prevents an Iranian nuclear weapon, all the while avoiding a catastrophic war. Now is the time for Congress to do theirs. Make no mistake: if Congress rejects this good deal with Iran, there will be no better deal forthcoming and Congress will be left owning an unnecessary war." NIAC created a new group, NIAC Action, to run advertisements supporting the agreement.
NIAC also organized an open letter from 73 Middle East and foreign affairs scholars stating, "reactivating diplomatic channels between the United States and Iran is a necessary first step" to reduce conflict in the region, and that while "the nuclear deal will not automatically or immediately bring stability to the region ... Ultimately, a Middle East where diplomacy is the norm rather than the exception will enhance U.S. national security and interests."
Signatories to the letter include
John Esposito
John Louis Esposito (born May 19, 1940) is an Italian-American academic, professor of Middle Eastern and religious studies, and scholar of Islamic studies, who serves as Professor of Religion, International Affairs, and Islamic Studies at Geor ...
,
Ehsan Yarshater
Ehsan Yarshater ( fa, احسان يارشاطر, April 3, 1920 – September 1, 2018) was an Iranian historian and linguist who specialized in Iranology. He was the founder and director of The Center for Iranian Studies, and Hagop Kevorkian Profe ...
,
Noam Chomsky
Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American public intellectual: a linguist, philosopher, cognitive scientist, historian, social critic, and political activist. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is ...
,
Peter Beinart
Peter Alexander Beinart (; born February 28, 1971) is an American liberal columnist, journalist, and political commentator. A former editor of ''The New Republic'', he has also written for ''Time'', ''The New York Times'', and ''The New York Revie ...
,
John Mearsheimer
John Joseph Mearsheimer (; born December 14, 1947) is an American political scientist and international relations scholar, who belongs to the realist school of thought. He is the R. Wendell Harrison Distinguished Service Professor at the Univers ...
, and
Stephen Walt.
U.S. pro-Israel groups were divided on the JCPOA.
[Felicia Schwartz]
"Pro-Israel Groups in U.S. Square Off Over Iran Nuke Deal"
''The Wall Street Journal'' Washington Wire blog (16 July 2015). The
American Israel Public Affairs Committee
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC ) is a lobbying group that advocates pro-Israel policies to the legislative and executive branches of the United States. One of several pro-Israel lobbying organizations in the United Stat ...
opposed the agreement and formed a new
501(c)(4)
A 501(c) organization is a nonprofit organization in the Law of the United States#Federal law, federal law of the United States according to Internal Revenue Code (26 U.S.C. § 501(c)) and is one of over 29 types of nonprofit organizations exe ...
group, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, to run a television advertising campaign against it.
In August 2015, it was reported that AIPAC and Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran planned to spend between $20 million and $40 million on its campaign.
[Ailsa Chang]
"Lobbyists Spending Millions to Sway the Undecided on Iran Deal"
NPR (6 August 2015). From mid-July to 4 August 2015 AIPAC's Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran spent more than $11 million on network television
political advertisement
In politics, campaign advertising is the use of an advertising campaign through the media to Social influence, influence a political debate, and ultimately, voters. These ads are designed by political consulting, political consultants and polit ...
s opposing the agreement in 23 states, including more than $1 million in California, Florida, New York, and Texas.
[John Bresnahan & Anna Palmer]
"Iran deal foes spend big, get little so far"
''Politico'' (4 August 2015). In the first week of August AIPAC said it had 400 meetings with congressional offices as part of its campaign to defeat the agreement.
In contrast to AIPAC, another pro-Israel organization,
J Street
J Street ( he, ג'יי סטריט) is a nonprofit liberal advocacy group based in the United States whose stated aim is to promote American leadership to end the Arab–Israeli and Israeli–Palestinian conflicts peacefully and diplomatica ...
, supported the agreement, and planned a $5 million advertising effort to encourage Congress to support it.
In the first week of August J Street launched a $2 million, three-week ad campaign in support of the agreement, with TV ads in Colorado, Maryland, Michigan, Oregon, and Pennsylvania.
[Gus Burns]
First look at $2 million J-Street ad campaign in support of Iran nuclear deal
MLive.com (4 August 2015). From mid-July through early August, J Street reported having 125 meetings with congressional offices.
J Street also paid to fly prominent Israelis who support the agreement (including
Amram Mitzna
Amram Mitzna ( he, עמרם מצנע, born 20 February 1945) is an Israeli politician and former general in the IDF. He is a former mayor of Haifa (1993–2003) and Yeruham (2005–2010) and led the Labor Party from 2002 to 2003. In 2012 he joine ...
, a retired Israeli general, member of the
Knesset
The Knesset ( he, הַכְּנֶסֶת ; "gathering" or "assembly") is the unicameral legislature of Israel. As the supreme state body, the Knesset is sovereign and thus has complete control of the entirety of the Israeli government (with ...
, and mayor of
Haifa
Haifa ( he, חֵיפָה ' ; ar, حَيْفَا ') is the third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropol ...
) to the United States to help persuade members of Congress to support it.
The group
United Against Nuclear Iran
United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) is a bi-partisan, non-profit advocacy organization in the United States. Its stated objective is to "prevent Iran from fulfilling its ambition to become a regional super-power possessing nuclear weapons." Along wi ...
(UANI) opposed the agreement and committed to spending more than $20 million on a national "TV, radio, print and digital campaign" against it.
["Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran (CNFI) Launches Third National TV Ad"](_blank)
(press release), United Against Nuclear Iran (20 August 2015). After UANI announced its opposition, the group's president and co-founder, nonproliferation expert
Gary Samore
Gary Samore is the Crown Family Director of thCrown Center for Middle East Studiesand Professor of the Practice in Politics at Brandeis University. He formerly served as the Executive Director for Research of the Belfer Center for Science and Inte ...
, announced that he had concluded "that the accord was in the United States' interest" and supported the agreement.
[Michael R. Gordon]
"Head of Group Opposing Iran Accord Quits Post, Saying He Backs Deal"
''The New York Times'' (11 August 2015). Samore thus stepped down as president and was replaced by ex-Senator
Joseph I. Lieberman
Joseph Isadore Lieberman (; born February 24, 1942) is an American politician, lobbyist, and attorney who served as a United States senator from Connecticut from 1989 to 2013. A former member of the Democratic Party, he was its nominee for Vi ...
.
By 20 August UANI had released its third national television ad against the agreement.
Various other groups also ran ad campaigns for or against the agreement.
John R. Bolton
John Robert Bolton (born November 20, 1948) is an American attorney, diplomat, Republican consultant, and political commentator. He served as the 25th United States Ambassador to the United Nations from 2005 to 2006, and as the 26th United Stat ...
's Foundation for American Security and Freedom ran ads against it, as did "Veterans Against the Deal", a group that
does not disclose its donors.
[Allison Kaplan Sommer]
"Ad Nauseum: [sic] How Supporters and Opponents Are Trying to Sell the Iranian Nuclear Deal"
''Haaretz'' (26 August 2015). Various pro-agreement ads were run by MoveOn.org (which ran an ad titled "Let Diplomacy Work"), Americans United for Change (which warned "They're back—the Iraq war hawks are fighting the Iran deal, want more war" over photos of Bolton,
Dick Cheney
Richard Bruce Cheney ( ; born January 30, 1941) is an American politician and businessman who served as the 46th vice president of the United States from 2001 to 2009 under President George W. Bush. He is currently the oldest living former U ...
, and
Donald Rumsfeld
Donald Henry Rumsfeld (July 9, 1932 – June 29, 2021) was an American politician, government official and businessman who served as Secretary of Defense from 1975 to 1977 under president Gerald Ford, and again from 2001 to 2006 under Presi ...
), and
Global Zero
Global Zero is a term in the literature of arms control that refers to the worldwide elimination of a weapons system, especially nuclear weapons or a particular class of nuclear weapons. In negotiations over the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces ...
(which ran a humorous ad featuring actors
Jack Black
Thomas Jacob Black (born August 28, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, and musician. He is known for his acting roles in the films '' High Fidelity'' (2000), ''Shallow Hal'' (2001), ''Orange County'' (2002), '' School of Rock'' (2003), ''E ...
,
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
, and
Natasha Lyonne
Natasha Bianca Lyonne Braunstein ( ; born April 4, 1979) is an American actress, director, writer, and producer. She is known for playing Nicky Nichols on the Netflix comedy-drama series ''Orange Is the New Black'' (2013–2019), for which she r ...
).
The New York-based Iran Project, a nonprofit led by former high-level U.S. diplomats and funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund, along with the
United Nations Association of the United States
The United Nations Association of the United States of America (UNA-USA) is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Grassroots, grassroots organization dedicated to promoting political and public support for the United Nations among Americans. A progr ...
, supported the agreement.
[Peter Waldman]
"How Freelance Diplomacy Bankrolled by Rockefellers Has Paved the Way for an Iran Deal"
Bloomberg Politics (2 July 2015). The Rockefeller fund also supported the San Francisco-based
Ploughshares Fund
Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives to prevent the spread and use of nuclear weapons, and to prevent conflicts that could lead to their use. Ploughshares Fund is a 501(c)(3) foundation that pools con ...
, which spent several years marshaling support for an agreement.
On 17 July 2015, a bipartisan open letter endorsing the Iran agreement was signed by more than 100 former U.S. ambassadors and high-ranking State Department officials.
[Julian Hattem]
"More than 100 ex-US ambassadors pledge backing for Iran deal"
''The Hill'' (17 July 2015).["Letter to the President from over 100 former American Ambassadors on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action on Iran's Nuclear Program"](_blank)
(17 July 2015). The ex-ambassadors wrote: "If properly implemented, this comprehensive and rigorously negotiated agreement can be an effective instrument in arresting Iran's nuclear program and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons in the volatile and vitally important region of the Middle East. In our judgment the
landeserves Congressional support and the opportunity to show it can work. We firmly believe that the most effective way to protect U.S. national security, and that of our allies and friends is to ensure that tough-minded diplomacy has a chance to succeed before considering other more costly and risky alternatives."
Among the signatories to the letter were
Daniel C. Kurtzer
Daniel Charles Kurtzer (born June 1949) is an American former diplomat. He served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the term of President Bill Clinton, and was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 during the term of President George W ...
,
James R. Jones,
Frank E. Loy
Frank E. Loy (born December 25, 1928) is an American diplomat, business and nonprofit executive, and attorney. He is best known for serving as United States Under Secretary of State for Global Affairs from November 2, 1998, to January 20, 2001, un ...
,
Princeton N. Lyman,
Jack F. Matlock Jr.,
Donald F. McHenry
Donald Franchot McHenry (born October 13, 1936) is a former American diplomat. He was the United States Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations from September 1979 until January 20, 1981.
Biography
McHenry was born in St. L ...
,
Thomas E. McNamara, and
Thomas R. Pickering
Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering (born November 5, 1931) is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992.
Early life and education
Born in Orange, ...
.
A separate public letter to Congress in support of the agreement from five former U.S. ambassadors to Israel from administrations of both parties and three former
Under Secretaries of State was released on 26 July 2015.
[James Fallows]
"A Guide to the Iran Nuclear Deal's Supporters and Opponents"
''The Atlantic'' (28 July 2015). This letter was signed by
R. Nicholas Burns
Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022.
Burns has had a 25 year career in the State Department, and served as United States Under Secre ...
,
James B. Cunningham,
William C. Harrop,
Daniel Kurtzer
Daniel Charles Kurtzer (born June 1949) is an American former diplomat. He served as U.S. ambassador to Egypt during the term of President Bill Clinton, and was the U.S. ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2005 during the term of President George W ...
, Thomas R. Pickering,
Edward S. Walker Jr.
Edward S. Walker Jr. (born June 13, 1940) is a former U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Egypt, and the UAE and is a Middle East specialist.
Early life
Walker was born in Abington Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. He earned his B.A. at Hamilt ...
, and
Frank G. Wisner
Frank George Wisner II (born July 2, 1938) is an American businessman and former diplomat who had served as acting United States Secretary of State for a few hours following the resignation of the previous acting United States Secretary of State ...
.
["Letter to Congressional Leadership from Former Under Secretaries of State and former American Ambassadors to Israel on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action"](_blank)
(27 July 2015). The former officials wrote, "We are persuaded that this agreement will put in place a set of constraints and monitoring measures that will arrest Iran's nuclear program for at least fifteen years and assure that this agreement will leave Iran no legitimate avenue to produce a nuclear weapon during the next ten to fifteen years. This landmark agreement removes the threat that a nuclear-armed Iran would pose to the region and to Israel specifically."
Another public letter to Congress urging approval of the agreement was signed by a bipartisan group of more than 60 "national-security leaders", including politicians, retired military officers, and diplomats.
This letter, dated 20 July 2015, stated: "We congratulate President Obama and all the negotiators for a landmark agreement unprecedented in its importance for preventing the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Iran. ... We have followed carefully the negotiations as they have progressed and conclude that the JCPOA represents the achievement of greater security for us and our partners in the region."
["Statement by 60 National Security Leaders on the Announcement of a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action"](_blank)
The Iran Project (20 July 2015). Among the Republicans who signed this letter were former Treasury Secretary
Paul O'Neill, former
U.S. Trade Representative Carla Anderson Hills
Carla Anderson Hills (born January 3, 1934) is an American lawyer and a public figure. A member of the Republican Party, she previously served as the 5th United States Secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Gerald Ford from 197 ...
, and former Senator
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
Nancy Jo Kassebaum Baker (née Landon; born July 29, 1932) is an American politician who represented the State of Kansas in the United States Senate from 1978 to 1997. She is the daughter of Alf Landon, who was Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 19 ...
.
Among the Democrats who signed the letter were former Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright
Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright (born Marie Jana Korbelová; May 15, 1937 – March 23, 2022) was an American diplomat and political scientist who served as the 64th United States secretary of state from 1997 to 2001. A member of the Democratic ...
, former Senate Majority Leaders
George J. Mitchell
George John Mitchell Jr. (born August 20, 1933) is an American politician, diplomat, and lawyer. A leading member of the Democratic Party, he served as a United States senator from Maine from 1980 to 1995, and as Senate Majority Leader from 198 ...
and
Tom Daschle
Thomas Andrew Daschle ( ; born December 9, 1947) is an American politician and lobbyist who served as a United States senator from South Dakota from 1987 to 2005. A member of the Democratic Party, he became U.S. Senate Minority Leader in 1995 an ...
, former Senator
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
, and former Defense Secretary
William Perry William Perry may refer to:
Business
* William Perry (Queensland businessman) (1835–1891), businessman and politician in Queensland, Australia
* William H. Perry (businessman) (1832–1906), American businessman and entrepreneur
Politics and ...
.
[Joe Cirincione]
"60 of America's Top National Security Leaders Endorse Iran Deal"
The Huffington Post (21 July 2015). Also signing were former National Security Advisors
Zbigniew Brzezinski
Zbigniew Kazimierz Brzeziński ( , ; March 28, 1928 – May 26, 2017), or Zbig, was a Polish-American diplomat and political scientist. He served as a counselor to President Lyndon B. Johnson from 1966 to 1968 and was President Jimmy Carter's ...
and
Brent Scowcroft
Brent Scowcroft (; March 19, 1925August 6, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer who was a two-time United States National Security Advisor, first under U.S. President Gerald Ford and then under George H. W. Bush. He served as Military Assi ...
; Under Secretaries of State
R. Nicholas Burns
Robert Nicholas Burns (born January 28, 1956) is an American diplomat and academic who serves as the United States ambassador to China since 2022.
Burns has had a 25 year career in the State Department, and served as United States Under Secre ...
and
Thomas R. Pickering
Thomas Reeve "Tom" Pickering (born November 5, 1931) is a retired United States ambassador. Among his many diplomatic appointments, he served as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations from 1989 to 1992.
Early life and education
Born in Orange, ...
; U.S. Ambassadors
Ryan Crocker
Ryan Clark Crocker (born June 19, 1949) is an American retired diplomat who served as a career ambassador within the United States Foreign Service and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He has served as United States Ambassador to ...
and
Stuart Eizenstat
Stuart Elliott Eizenstat (born January 15, 1943) is an American diplomat and attorney. He served as the United States Ambassador to the European Union from 1993 to 1996 and as the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 ...
; Admiral
Eric T. Olson
Eric Thor Olson (born January 24, 1952) is a retired United States Navy Admiral (United States), admiral who last served as the eighth Commander, United States Special Operations Command, U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) from July 2, 2 ...
;
Under Secretary of Defense for Policy
The United States under secretary of defense for policy (USDP) is a high level civilian official in the United States Department of Defense. The under secretary of defense for policy is the principal staff assistant and adviser to both the Unite ...
Michele Flournoy
Michele (), is an Italian male given name, akin to the English male name Michael.
Michele (pronounced ), is also an English female given name that is derived from the French Michèle. It is a variant spelling of the more common (and identically ...
; and Assistant Secretary for Nonproliferation Robert Einhorn.
On 8 August 2015, 29 prominent U.S. scientists, mostly
physicist
A physicist is a scientist who specializes in the field of physics, which encompasses the interactions of matter and energy at all length and time scales in the physical universe.
Physicists generally are interested in the root or ultimate caus ...
s, published an open letter endorsing the agreement.
[William J. Broad]
"29 U.S. Scientists Praise Iran Nuclear Deal in Letter to Obama"
''The New York Times'' (8 August 2015).
(8 August 2015), reprinted by ''The New York Times''. The letter, addressed to Obama, said: "We congratulate you and your team on negotiating a technically sound, stringent and innovative deal that will provide the necessary assurance in the coming decade and more than Iran is not developing nuclear weapons, and provides a basis for further initiatives to raise the barriers to nuclear proliferation in the Middle East and around the globe."
The letter also stated that the agreement "will advance the cause of peace and security in the Middle East and can serve as a guidepost for future nonproliferation agreements".
The 29 signatories included "some of the world's most knowledgeable experts in the fields of nuclear weapons and arms control", many of whom have held
Q clearance
Q clearance or Q access authorization is the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) security clearance required to access Top Secret Restricted Data, Formerly Restricted Data, and National Security Information, as well as Secret Restricted Data. Restri ...
s and have been longtime advisers to Congress, the White House, and federal agencies.
The five primary authors were
Richard L. Garwin (a nuclear physicist who played a key role in the development of the first
hydrogen bomb
A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...
and whom ''The New York Times'' described as "among the last living physicists who helped usher in the nuclear age"); Robert J. Goldston (Director of the Princeton Program on Science and Global Security and former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory); R. Scott Kemp (an MIT professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering and a former science advisor for nonproliferation and arms control at the State Department);
Rush D. Holt (a physicist and former U.S. Representative who later became president of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an American international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific respons ...
); and Frank N. von Hippel (Princeton Professor of Public Policy and former assistant director for national security in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy). Six
Nobel Prize in Physics
)
, image = Nobel Prize.png
, alt = A golden medallion with an embossed image of a bearded man facing left in profile. To the left of the man is the text "ALFR•" then "NOBEL", and on the right, the text (smaller) "NAT•" then " ...
laureates co-signed the letter:
Philip W. Anderson
Philip Warren Anderson (December 13, 1923 – March 29, 2020) was an American theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate. Anderson made contributions to the theories of localization, antiferromagnetism, symmetry breaking (including a paper in 1 ...
of
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
;
Leon N. Cooper of
Brown University
Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...
;
Sheldon L. Glashow of
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
;
David Gross
David Jonathan Gross (; born February 19, 1941) is an American theoretical physicist and string theorist. Along with Frank Wilczek and David Politzer, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physics for their discovery of asymptotic freedom. Gr ...
of the
University of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduate ...
;
Burton Richter
Burton Richter (March 22, 1931 – July 18, 2018) was an American physicist. He led the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) team which co-discovered the J/ψ meson in 1974, alongside the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) team led by S ...
of
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
; and
Frank Wilczek
Frank Anthony Wilczek (; born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Direct ...
of the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...
.
Among the other scientists to sign are
Siegfried S. Hecker
Siegfried S. Hecker (born October 2, 1943) is an American metallurgist and nuclear scientist. He served as Director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory from 1986 to 1997 and is now affiliated with Stanford University, where he is research prof ...
(a Stanford physicist and the former director of
Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos National Laboratory (often shortened as Los Alamos and LANL) is one of the sixteen research and development laboratories of the United States Department of Energy (DOE), located a short distance northwest of Santa Fe, New Mexico, ...
),
Freeman Dyson
Freeman John Dyson (15 December 1923 – 28 February 2020) was an English-American theoretical physicist and mathematician known for his works in quantum field theory, astrophysics, random matrices, mathematical formulation of quantum m ...
(of Princeton), and
Sidney Drell
Sidney David Drell (September 13, 1926 – December 21, 2016) was an American theoretical physicist and arms control expert.
At the time of his death, he was professor emeritus at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) and senior fel ...
(of Stanford).
An open letter endorsing the agreement signed by 36 retired military
generals
A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air forces, space forces, and marines or naval infantry.
In some usages the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED On ...
and
admiral
Admiral is one of the highest ranks in some navies. In the Commonwealth nations and the United States, a "full" admiral is equivalent to a "full" general in the army or the air force, and is above vice admiral and below admiral of the fleet, ...
s and titled "The Iran Deal Benefits U.S. National Security: An Open Letter from Retired Generals and Admirals" was released on 11 August 2015.
[Karen DeYoung]
"Dozens of retired generals, admirals back Iran nuclear deal"
''The Washington Post'' (11 August 2015).["Read: An open letter from retired generals and admirals on the Iran nuclear deal"](_blank)
(letter released 11 August 2015), reprinted by ''The Washington Post''. The letter, signed by retired officers from all five branches of the
U.S. armed services
The United States Armed Forces are the military forces of the United States. The armed forces consists of six service branches: the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The president of the United States is the ...
, said the agreement was "the most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons" and "If at some point it becomes necessary to consider military action against Iran, gathering sufficient international support for such an effort would only be possible if we have first given the diplomatic path a chance. We must exhaust diplomatic options before moving to military ones."
The signers included General
James E. "Hoss" Cartwright of the
Marine Corps
Marines, or naval infantry, are typically a military force trained to operate in littoral zones in support of naval operations. Historically, tasks undertaken by marines have included helping maintain discipline and order aboard the ship (refle ...
, former
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (VJCS) is, by U.S. law, the second highest-ranking military officer in the United States Armed Forces, - Vice Chairman ranking just below the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The vice chairman ...
; General
Joseph P. Hoar
Joseph Paul Hoar (December 30, 1934 – September 17, 2022) was a United States Marine Corps four-star general. He served as Commander in Chief of United States Central Command from 1991 to 1994, retiring from the Marine Corps on September 1, 199 ...
of the Marine Corps, the former commander of the
U.S. Central Command
The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilities of the Rapid Deployment Joint Tas ...
; and Generals
Merrill McPeak
Merrill Anthony "Tony" McPeak (born January 9, 1936) is a retired 4-star general in the United States Air Force whose final assignment before retirement was as the 14th Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 1990 to 1994.
In 1993, McPeak served a ...
and
Lloyd W. Newton
Lloyd W. "Fig" Newton (born December 24, 1942) is a retired United States Air Force (USAF) four-star general who served as Commander, Air Education and Training Command (COMAETC) from 1997 to 2000. He was also the first African-American pilot in t ...
of the
Air Force
An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...
.
Other signers included Lieutenant Generals
Robert G. Gard Jr.
Robert Gibbins Gard Jr. (born January 28, 1928) is a retired United States Army lieutenant general and former chairman of the board of the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation where his work focuses on nuclear nonproliferation, missile ...
and
Claudia J. Kennedy
Claudia Jean Kennedy (born July 14, 1947) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army. She is the first woman to reach the rank of three-star general in the United States Army. She retired in 2000 after 31 years of military service ...
; Vice Admiral
Lee F. Gunn; Rear Admirals
Garland Wright and
Joseph Sestak
Joseph Ambrose Sestak Jr. (born December 12, 1951) is an American politician and retired United States Department of the Navy, U.S. Navy officer. He represented in the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives from ...
; and Major General
Paul D. Eaton
Paul D. Eaton (born 1950) is a former United States Army officer who commanded the operations to train Iraqi troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eaton served in that capacity between 2003 and 2004, and then returned to the US to become Deputy C ...
.
The above letter was answered on 25 August 2015 by a letter signed by more than 200 retired generals and admirals opposing the deal.
The letter asserted: "The agreement does not 'cut off every pathway' for Iran to acquire nuclear weapons. To the contrary, it provides Iran with a legitimate pathway for doing exactly that simply by abiding by the deal. ... The JCPOA would threaten the national security and vital interests of the United States and, therefore, should be disapproved by the Congress."
This letter was organized by
Leon A. "Bud" Edney; other signers included Admiral
James A. Lyons; Lieutenant General
William G. Boykin, former Undersecretary of Defense for Intelligence; and Lieutenant General
Thomas McInerney, former vice commander of U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
Retired Marine Corps General
Anthony Zinni
Anthony Charles Zinni (born September 17, 1943) is a former United States Marine Corps general and a former Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command (CENTCOM). From 2001 to 2003, he served as a special envoy for the United States t ...
said he had refused requests from both sides to sign their letters, telling ''Time'' magazine, "I'm convinced that 90% of the guys who signed the letter one way or the other don't have any clue about whether it's a good or bad deal. They sign it because somebody's asked them to sign it." Of the JCPOA, Zinni said: "The agreement's fine, if you think it can work. But if this is a Neville Chamberlain then you're in a world of shit."
[Mark Thompson]
"Retired Generals Wage Letter War Over Iran Nuclear Deal Vote"
''Time'' (27 August 2015).
On 13 August retired Senators
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
of Michigan, a Democrat, and
John Warner
John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term Republican U.S. Senator from Virginia from 1979 to 200 ...
of Virginia, a Republican, published an op-ed in support of the agreement, "Why hawks should also back the Iran deal", in ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
''.
[Carl Levin & John Warner]
"Why hawks should also back the Iran deal"
''Politico'' (13 August 2015). Levin and Warner, both past chairmen of the Senate Armed Services Committee, argued, "If we reject the agreement, we risk isolating ourselves and damaging our ability to assemble the strongest possible coalition to stop Iran" in the event that military action was needed in the future.
Levin and Warner wrote, "The deal on the table is a strong agreement on many counts, and it leaves in place the robust deterrence and credibility of a military option. We urge our former colleagues not to take any action which would undermine the deterrent value of a coalition that participates in and could support the use of a military option. The failure of the United States to join the agreement would have that effect."
On 14 August retired senators
Richard Lugar
Richard Green Lugar (April 4, 1932 – April 28, 2019) was an American politician who served as a United States Senator from Indiana from 1977 to 2013. He was a member of the Republican Party.
Born in Indianapolis, Lugar graduated from De ...
of Indiana, a Republican, and
J. Bennett Johnston of Louisiana, a Democrat, also wrote in support of the agreement.
[Richard Lugar & J. Bennett Johnston]
"Why we disagree with Chuck Schumer on the Iran deal"
Reuters Great Debate (14 August 2015). In a column for
Reuters
Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world.
The agency was estab ...
Lugar and Johnston argued, "Rejection of the agreement would severely undermine the U.S. role as a leader and reliable partner around the globe. If Washington walks away from this hard-fought multilateral agreement, its dependability would likely be doubted for decades."
They also wrote: "Tehran would be the winner of this U.S. rejection because it would achieve its major objective: the lifting of most sanctions without being required to accept constraints on its nuclear program. Iran could also claim to be a victim of American perfidy and try to convince other nations to break with U.S. leadership and with the entire international sanctions regime."
On 17 August 2015, a group of 75 arms control and nuclear nonproliferation experts issued a joint statement endorsing the agreement.
["The Comprehensive P5+1 Nuclear Agreement With Iran: A Net-Plus for Nonproliferation: Statement from Nuclear Nonproliferation Specialists"](_blank)
Arms Control Association (17 August 2015).[Michael Crowley]
''Politico'' (18 August 2015). The statement said, "the JCPOA is a strong, long-term, and verifiable agreement that will be a net-plus for international nuclear nonproliferation efforts" and that the JCPOA's "rigorous limits and transparency measures will make it very likely that any future effort by Iran to pursue nuclear weapons, even a clandestine program, would be detected promptly, providing the opportunity to intervene decisively to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon".
The letter was organized through the nonpartisan
Arms Control Association
The Arms Control Association is a United States-based nonpartisan membership organization founded in 1971, with the self-stated mission of "promoting public understanding of and support for effective arms control policies."
The group publishes th ...
.
Among the 75 signatories were the
Valerie Plame
Valerie Elise Plame (born August 13, 1963) is an American writer, spy novelist, and former Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) officer. As the subject of the 2003 Plame affair, also known as the CIA leak scandal, Plame's identity as a CIA officer ...
and
Joseph C. Wilson
Joseph Charles Wilson IV (November 6, 1949 – September 27, 2019) was an American diplomat who was best known for his 2002 trip to Niger to investigate allegations that Saddam Hussein was attempting to purchase yellowcake uranium; his ''New Y ...
; former IAEA director-general
Hans Blix
Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Sweden, Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party (Sweden), Liberal People's Party. He was Minister for Foreign Affairs (Sweden), Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979 ...
;
Morton H. Halperin
Morton H. Halperin (born June 13, 1938) is a longtime expert on U.S. foreign policy, arms control, civil liberties, and the workings of bureaucracies.
He was a senior advisor to the Open Society Foundations, which was founded by George Soros. ...
; and experts from the
Brookings Institution
The Brookings Institution, often stylized as simply Brookings, is an American research group founded in 1916. Located on Think Tank Row in Washington, D.C., the organization conducts research and education in the social sciences, primarily in ec ...
,
Stimson Center, and other
think tank
A think tank, or policy institute, is a research institute that performs research and advocacy concerning topics such as social policy, political strategy, economics, military, technology, and culture. Most think tanks are non-governmenta ...
s.
Foreign diplomats were also involved in the congressional debate. The
Israeli ambassador to the United States
The office of the Israeli Ambassador to the United States of America is the ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary from the State of Israel to the United States of America. It is generally regarded as the most prestigious position in the Isr ...
Ron Dermer
Ron Dermer ( he, רון דרמר, born April 16, 1971) is an United States, American-born Israelis, Israeli political consultant and diplomat serving as the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs. He previously served as the Israeli Ambassador to ...
appeared on cable television shows to attack the agreement, while ambassadors from European nations, including Sir
Peter Westmacott
Sir Peter John Westmacott (born 23 December 1950) is a senior British diplomat, who was British Ambassador to Turkey, then Ambassador to France (2007 to 2011) and finally Ambassador to the United States from January 2012 to January 2016, succ ...
, the
British ambassador to the United States
The British Ambassador to the United States is in charge of the British Embassy, Washington, D.C., the United Kingdom's diplomatic mission to the United States. The official title is His Majesty's Ambassador to the United States of America.
T ...
, "came on to say the precise opposite". Dermer also lobbied members of Congress on Capitol Hill against the agreement, while diplomats from France, Britain, and Germany made the rounds on Capitol Hill to advocate for the agreement.
[Karen DeYoung]
"Senate opponents of Iran deal draw hard lines against White House"
''The Washington Post'' (23 July 2015). On 4 August P5+1 diplomats held "a rare meeting of world powers' envoys on Capitol Hill" with about 30 Senate Democrats to urge support for the agreement, saying, "If Congress rejects this good deal, and the U.S. is forced to walk away, Iran will be left with an unconstrained nuclear program with far weaker monitoring arrangements, the current international consensus on sanctions would unravel, and international unity and pressure on Iran would be seriously undermined."
[John Hudson]
"P5+1 Nations Press Senate Democrats to Support Iran Deal"
''Foreign Policy'' (6 August 2015).
On ''
Meet the Press
''Meet the Press'' is a weekly American television news/interview program broadcast on NBC. It is the longest-running program on American television, though the current format bears little resemblance to the debut episode on November 6, 1947. ' ...
'' on 6 September 2015, former Secretary of State
Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell ( ; April 5, 1937 – October 18, 2021) was an American politician, statesman, diplomat, and United States Army officer who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African ...
expressed support for the nuclear agreement with Iran, saying that it was "a pretty good deal".
[Alexandra Jaffe]
"Colin Powell: Iran Deal Is a 'Pretty Good Deal'"
NBC News (6 September 2015). Powell said that various provisions accepted by Iran—such as the reduction in centrifuges and the uranium stockpile and the agreement to shut down its plutonium reactor—were "remarkable changes" that stopped the Iranian pathway to a nuclear weapons program. Powell also defended the verification provisions of the agreement, saying: "I think a very vigorous verification regime has been put into place."
Former Ambassador
Dennis Ross
Dennis B. Ross (born November 26, 1948) is an American diplomat and author. He has served as the Director of Policy Planning in the State Department under President George H. W. Bush, the special Middle East coordinator under President Bill Clint ...
, a longtime American negotiator in the Middle East, wrote that he was not yet convinced by either proponents or opponents of the agreement.
[Dennis Ross]
"How to Make Iran Keep its Word"
''Politico'' (29 July 2015). Ross wrote that the United States should be focused on "deterring the Iranians from cheating" (e.g., by producing highly enriched uranium) after year fifteen of the agreement.
Ross wrote, "President Obama emphasizes that the agreement is based on verification not trust. But our catching Iran cheating is less important than the price they know they will pay if we catch them. Deterrence needs to apply not just for the life of the deal."
As part of a deterrence strategy, Ross proposed transferring to Israel the U.S.
Massive Ordnance Penetrator
The GBU-57A/B Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP) is a precision-guided, " bunker buster" bomb used by the United States Air Force. This is substantially larger than the deepest-penetrating bunker busters previously available, the GBU-28 and ...
(MOP) "
bunker buster
A bunker buster is a type of munition that is designed to penetrate hardened targets or targets buried deep underground, such as military bunkers.
Armor piercing shells
Germany
Röchling shells were bunker-busting artillery shells, developed by ...
" bomb at some point before year 15 of the agreement.
In a 25 August op-ed in ''The Washington Post'', Ross and
David H. Petraeus
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
again argued for transferring the MOP to Israel.
The
Jewish American
American Jews or Jewish Americans are American citizens who are Jewish, whether by religion, ethnicity, culture, or nationality. Today the Jewish community in the United States consists primarily of Ashkenazi Jews, who descend from diaspora Je ...
community was divided on the agreement. On 19 August 2015 leaders of the Reform Jewish movement, the largest Jewish denomination in the United States, issued a lengthy public statement expressing a neutral position.
[Chemi Shalev]
"Reflecting Deep Divisions, Reform Movement Abstains From 'Yes' or 'No' on Iran Deal"
''Haaretz'' (19 August 2015). The statement, signed by the leaders of the
Union for Reform Judaism
The Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), known as the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) until 2003, founded in 1873 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the congregational arm of Reform Judaism in North America. The other two arms established ...
,
Central Conference of American Rabbis
The Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), founded in 1889 by Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise, is the principal organization of Reform rabbis in the United States and Canada. The CCAR is the largest and oldest rabbinical organization in the world. I ...
,
Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism
The Religious Action Center (RAC) is the political and legislative outreach arm of Reform Judaism in the United States. The Religious Action Center is operated under the auspices of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism, a joint body of ...
and Association of Reform Zionists of America, reflected what
Rabbi
A rabbi () is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi – known as ''semikha'' – following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of ...
Rick Jacobs, president of the URJ, called "deep divisions within the movement".
On 20 August 2015 a group of 26 prominent current and foreign American Jewish communal leaders published a full-page ad in ''The New York Times'' with a statement backing the agreement; signers included three former chairs of the
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations
The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations (CoP; commonly Presidents' Conference) is an American non-profit organization that addresses issues of critical concern to the Jewish community, and the state of Israel in particu ...
as well as former AIPAC executive director
Tom Dine. Separately, on 17 August 2015 a group of 340 rabbis organized by
Ameinu
Ameinu ( he, עמנו, "our people") is an American Jewish Zionist organization. Established in 2004 as the successor to the Labor Zionist Alliance, it is the continuation of Labor Zionist activity in the United States that began with the found ...
wrote an open letter to Congress in support of the agreement, saying: "We, along with many other Jewish leaders, fully support this historic nuclear accord."
["340 U.S. rabbis sign letter supporting Iran deal"](_blank)
Jewish Telegraphic Agency (17 August 2015). The signers were mostly Reform rabbis but included at least 50 rabbis from the Conservative movement and at least one Orthodox rabbi. Prominent rabbis who signed this letter included
Sharon Brous
Sharon Brous (born 1973) is an American rabbi who currently serves as the senior rabbi of IKAR, a Jewish congregation in Los Angeles. She was one of the founders of IKAR in 2004, along with Melissa Balaban, who currently serves as IKAR's Chief E ...
,
Burton Visotzky
Burton L. Visotzky (born 1951) is an American rabbi and scholar of midrash. He is the Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies, Emeritus at the Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).
Education
Visotzky was educated at ...
,
Nina Beth Cardin
Nina Beth Cardin is a rabbi, author, and environmental activist. In 1978, she founded the Jewish Women’s Resource Center. Rabbinic career and social activism
In 1988, Cardin was ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, after which she held ...
,
Lawrence Kushner
Lawrence Kushner (born 1943) is a Reform rabbi and the scholar-in-residence at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco, California.
Biography
Born in Detroit in 1943, Kushner graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of Cincinnati and went on ...
,
Sharon Kleinbaum, and
Amy Eilberg
Amy Eilberg (born October 12, 1954) is the first female rabbi ordained in Conservative Judaism. She was ordained in 1985 by the Jewish Theological Seminary of America, one of the academic centers and spiritual centers of Conservative Judaism.
Yo ...
.
In a separate letter released on 27 August, 11 Democratic Jewish former members of Congress urged support for the agreement; the letter noted the signatories' pro-Israel credentials and said the agreement "halts the immediate threat of a nuclear-armed Iran" while rejecting it would "put Iran back on the path to develop a nuclear weapon within two to three months".
[Jewish Telegraphic Agency]
"11 Jewish ex-congressmen back Iran deal; 190 former generals oppose"
(27 August 2015). Signatories included former Senator
Carl Levin
Carl Milton Levin (June 28, 1934 – July 29, 2021) was an American attorney and politician who served as a United States senator from Michigan from 1979 to 2015. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the chair of the Senate Armed Services C ...
and former Representatives
Barney Frank
Barnett Frank (born March 31, 1940) is a former American politician. He served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1981 to 2013. A Democrat, Frank served as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee ...
,
Mel Levine
Meldon Edises Levine (born June 7, 1943) is an American attorney and former Democratic Congressman from California. He served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 1993.
Early life
On June 7, 1943, Levine was born in Los Ang ...
,
Steve Rothman
Steven Richard Rothman (born October 14, 1952) is an American former jurist and politician who served as the U.S. representative for New Jersey's 9th congressional district, serving for 16 years from January 3, 1997, to January 3, 2013.
Rothman w ...
, and
Robert Wexler
Robert Ira Wexler (born January 2, 1961) is an American politician and lawyer from Florida. He is the president of the Washington-based S. Daniel Abraham Center for Middle East Peace. Wexler was a Democratic member of the U.S. House of Represe ...
.
Conversely, in late August a group of 900 rabbis signed an open letter by
Kalman Topp
Rabbi Kalman Topp is an American Modern-Orthodox rabbi, educator and author, currently serving as the Senior Rabbi of the Beth Jacob Congregation of Beverly Hills, California.
Early life
A native New Yorker, Topp was raised in Kew Gardens Hi ...
and Yonah Bookstein calling upon Congress to reject the agreement. The
Orthodox Union
The Orthodox Union (abbreviated OU) is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the United States. Founded in 1898, the OU supports a network of synagogues, youth programs, Jewish and Religious Zionist advocacy programs, programs for ...
and
American Jewish Committee
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish org ...
also announced opposition to the agreement.
The Roman Catholic Church expressed support for the agreement. In a 14 July 2015 letter to Congress, Bishop
Oscar Cantú
Oscar Cantú (born December 5, 1966) is a Mexican-American prelate of the Roman Catholic Church who has been serving as bishop of the Diocese of San Jose in California since 2018. He served as bishop of the Diocese of Las Cruces in New Mexico fro ...
, chairman of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) is the episcopal conference of the Catholic Church in the United States. Founded in 1966 as the joint National Conference of Catholic Bishops (NCCB) and United States Catholic Conference (US ...
, wrote that the JCPOA was "a momentous agreement" that "signals progress in global nuclear non-proliferation".
[Vinnie Rotondaro]
"Signs of 'seamless garment' in Catholic support for Iran nuke deal"
''National Catholic Reporter'' (13 August 2015).["Bishop Cantú Welcomes Iran Nuclear Deal, Urges Congress To Endorse Result of Negotiations"](_blank)
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (14 July 2015). Cantú wrote that Catholic bishops in the United States "will continue to urge Congress to endorse the result of these intense negotiations because the alternative leads toward armed conflict, an outcome of profound concern to the Church".
On 25 August 2015 a group of 53 Christian faith leaders from a variety of denominations sent a message to Congress urging them to support the agreement.
The Christian leaders wrote: "This is a moment to remember the wisdom of Jesus who proclaimed from the
Sermon on the Mount
The Sermon on the Mount (anglicized from the Matthean Vulgate Latin section title: ) is a collection of sayings attributed to Jesus of Nazareth found in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7). that emphasizes his moral teachings. It is ...
, 'Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God' (
Matthew 5:9). ... There is no question we are all better off with this deal than without it."
The letter was coordinated by a
Quaker
Quakers are people who belong to a historically Protestant Christian set of Christian denomination, denominations known formally as the Religious Society of Friends. Members of these movements ("theFriends") are generally united by a belie ...
group, the
Friends Committee on National Legislation
The Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) is a national nonprofit, nonpartisan Quaker organization. As a 501(c)(4) advocacy organization, FCNL and its network lobby Congress and the administration to promote peace, justice, and environm ...
.
Signatories to the letter included
Jim Wallis
James E. Wallis Jr. (born June 4, 1948) is an American theologian, writer, teacher and political activist. He is best known as the founder and editor of ''Sojourners'' magazine and as the founder of the Washington, D.C.-based Christian commun ...
of
Sojourners
''Sojourners'' is a progressive monthly magazine and daily online publication of the American Christian social justice organization Sojourners, which arose out of the Sojourners Community. It was first published in 1971 under the original titl ...
;
John C. Dorhauer, general minister and president of the
United Church of Christ
The United Church of Christ (UCC) is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination based in the United States, with historical and confessional roots in the Congregational, Calvinist, Lutheran, and Anabaptist traditions, and with approximately 4 ...
;
Shane Claiborne
Shane Claiborne (born July 11, 1975) is a Christian activist and author who is a leading figure in the New Monasticism movement and one of the founding members of the non-profit organization, The Simple Way, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Claibo ...
; Adam Estle of Evangelicals for Middle East Understanding; Archbishop Vicken Aykazian of the
Armenian Orthodox Church
Armenian may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia
* Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent
** Armenian Diaspora, Armenian communities across the ...
; A. Roy Medley, the head of
American Baptist Churches USA
The American Baptist Churches USA (ABCUSA) is a mainline/evangelical Baptist Christian denomination within the United States. The denomination maintains headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. The organization is usually considered mainli ...
; the Reverend Paula Clayton Dempsey of the
Alliance of Baptists
The Alliance of Baptists is a Baptist Christian denomination in the United States and Canada. The headquarters is in Raleigh, North Carolina.
History
The Alliance of Baptists was formed in 1987 as the Southern Baptist Alliance by liberal individ ...
, senior pastor
Joel C. Hunter
Joel Carl Hunter (born April 18, 1948 in Shelby, Ohio) is the former senior pastor of Northland, A Church Distributed, a congregation of 20,000 that worships at three sites in Central Florida. He is the author of ''A New Kind of Conservative'' (Reg ...
of Northland, A Church Distributed; and Sister
Simone Campbell
Simone Campbell, Sisters of Social Service, SSS (born October 22, 1945), is an Americans, American Roman Catholic Religious Sister, lawyer, lobbyist and executive director of NETWORK. She belongs to the Sisters of Social Service. She is known as ...
, a leader of the Catholic "
Nuns on the Bus
Nuns on the Bus is a Catholic advocacy group in the United States.
Their name comes from the fact that they tour the country on a bus.
Led by Sister Simone Campbell, they place emphasis on the Church's long-standing commitment to social justice. ...
" campaigns.
=Congressional committee hearings
=
A hearing on the JCPOA before the
Senate Foreign Relations Committee
The United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations is a standing committee of the U.S. Senate charged with leading foreign-policy legislation and debate in the Senate. It is generally responsible for overseeing and funding foreign aid pro ...
took place on 23 July 2015. Secretary of State Kerry,
Treasury Secretary
The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
Jack Lew
Jacob Joseph Lew (born August 29, 1955) is an American attorney and politician who served as the 76th United States Secretary of the Treasury from 2013 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he also served as the 25th White House Chief of S ...
, and
Energy Secretary Moniz testified.
[Jonathan Weisman & Michael R. Gordon]
"Kerry Defends Iran Nuclear Deal Before Skeptical Senate"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). Republican Senator
Bob Corker
Robert Phillips Corker Jr. (born August 24, 1952) is an American businessman and politician who served as a United States Senator from Tennessee from 2007 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he served as Chair of the Senate Foreign Rela ...
of
Tennessee
Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...
, the committee chairman, said in his opening statement that when the talks began the goal was to dismantle the Iranian nuclear program, whereas the achieved agreement codified "the industrialization of their nuclear program".
Corker, addressing Kerry, said, "I believe you've been fleeced" and "what you've really done here is you have turned Iran from being a pariah to now Congress—Congress being a pariah."
Corker said a new threshold in U.S. foreign policy had been crossed and the agreement would "enable a state sponsor of terror to obtain sophisticated, industrial nuclear development program that has, as we know, only one real practical need".
The committee's ranking Democratic member, Senator
Benjamin Cardin
Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representativ ...
of Maryland, said he had many questions and his hope was that the answers will cause a debate "in Congress and the American people".
Democrats, led by Senator
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. ...
of California, expressed support for the agreement, with Boxer saying that criticisms by Republicans were "ridiculous", "unfair", and "wrong".
Corker and Cardin sent Obama a letter saying the bilateral IAEA-Iran document should be available for Congress to review.
At the hearing Kerry, Lew, and Moniz "were unequivocal in their statements that the accord was the best that could be achieved and that without it, the international sanctions regime would collapse".
Kerry warned that the United States would be "on our own" if it walked away from a multilateral agreement alongside the five global powers
and added that the belief that "some sort of
unicorn
The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn projecting from its forehead.
In European literature and art, the unicorn has for the last thousand years o ...
arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation" could be achieved was "a fantasy, plain and simple".
''The Washington Post'' reported, "Moniz emerged as the calm center of the proceedings, beginning his interjections with recitations of what he described as 'facts,' and mildly observing that Republican characterizations were 'incorrect.'"
Kerry, Lew, and Moniz faced "uniform animus of Republicans" at the hearing,
with Republican senators giving "long and often scathing speeches denouncing what they described as a fatally flawed agreement and accusing the administration of dangerous naivete" and showing "little interest in responses" from the three cabinet secretaries.
''The Washington Post'' reported on 12 issues related to the agreement over which the two sides disagreed at the hearing.
On 28 July Kerry, Moniz, and Lew testified before the
House Committee on Foreign Affairs
The United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, also known as the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is a standing committee of the U.S. House of Representatives with jurisdiction over bills and investigations concerning the foreign affairs o ...
.
Committee chairman
Ed Royce
Edward Randall Royce (born October 12, 1951) is an American politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from California from 1993 to 2019. A member of the Republican Party, Royce served as Chairman of the Unite ...
, Republican of California, said in his opening statement, "we are being asked to consider an agreement that gives Iran permanent sanctions relief for temporary nuclear restrictions."
"Royce also said the inspection regime 'came up short' from 'anywhere, anytime' access to Iran's nuclear facilities and criticized the removal of restrictions on Iran's ballistic missile program and conventional arms."
The committee's
ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...
, Representative
Eliot Engel
Eliot Lance Engel (; born February 18, 1947) is an American politician who served as a U.S. representative from New York from 1989 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he represented a district covering portions of the north Bronx and sou ...
, Democrat of New York, said he has "serious questions and concerns" about the agreement.
Kerry, Lew, and Moniz spent four hours testifying before the committee.
[Jennifer Steinhauer]
"Iran Nuclear Deal Gets Support of House Israel Backer, Sander Levin"
(28 July 2015). At the hearing Kerry said that if Congress killed the deal, "You'll not only be giving Iran a free pass to double the pace of its uranium enrichment, to build a heavy-water reactor, to install new and more efficient centrifuges, but they will do it all without the unprecedented inspection and transparency measures that we have secured. Everything that we have tried to prevent will now happen."
[Carol Morello]
''The Washington Post'' (28 July 2015).
On 29 July
Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter
Ashton Baldwin Carter (September 24, 1954 – October 24, 2022) was an American government official and academic who served as the 25th United States Secretary of Defense from February 2015 to January 2017. He later served as director of the Be ...
, General
Martin Dempsey, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is the presiding officer of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). The chairman is the highest-ranking and most senior military officer in the United States Armed Forces Chairman: app ...
, Kerry, Moniz, and Lew appeared before the
Senate Armed Services Committee
The Committee on Armed Services (sometimes abbreviated SASC for ''Senate Armed Services Committee'') is a committee of the United States Senate empowered with legislative oversight of the nation's military, including the Department of Defe ...
in a three-hour hearing.
[Helene Cooper]
"Nuclear Deal Reduces Risk of Conflict With Iran, Top U.S. General Says"
''The New York Times'' (29 July 2015). Carter and Dempsey had been invited to testify by Republican Senator
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
of Arizona, the chairman of the committee; Kerry, Moniz, and Lew attended the hearing at the invitation of
the Pentagon
The Pentagon is the headquarters building of the United States Department of Defense. It was constructed on an accelerated schedule during World War II. As a symbol of the U.S. military, the phrase ''The Pentagon'' is often used as a metony ...
.
In his opening statement McCain said that if the agreement failed and U.S. armed forces were called to take action against Iran, they "could be at greater risk because of this agreement". He also asserted that the agreement could lead American allies and partners to fateful decisions and result in "growing regional security competition, new arms races, nuclear proliferation, and possibly conflict".
The committee's ranking Democratic member, Senator
Jack Reed of Rhode Island, said Congress had an obligation "to independently validate that the agreement will meet our common goal of stopping Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon" and that "the agreement, no matter your position on it, is historic and, if implemented scrupulously, could serve as a strategic inflection point in the world's relations with Iran, for international non-proliferation efforts, and for the political and security dynamics in the Middle East."
Carter said the agreement prevented Iran from "getting a nuclear weapon in a comprehensive and verifiable way".
He assured the committee that the deal would not limit the U.S. ability to respond with military force if needed.
In response to a question from McCain, Carter said he had "no reason to foresee" that the agreement would cause Iran's threatening behavior to change more broadly, stating "That is why it's important that Iran not have a nuclear weapon."
Dempsey offered what he described as a "pragmatic" view.
He neither praised nor criticized the deal, but testified that the agreement reduced the chances of a near-term military conflict between the United States and Iran.
Dempsey said the agreement worked to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons but did not address other concerns about Iran's malign activities in the region, ranging from "ballistic missile technology to weapons trafficking, to ... malicious activity in cyberspace".
[Michael Bowman]
"US Lawmakers Seek Details of Iran Nuke Inspection Regime"
Voice of America (29 July 2015). He testified, "Ultimately, time and Iranian behavior will determine if the nuclear agreement is effective and sustainable" and stated that he would continue to provide military options to the president.
Senator
Joni Ernst
Joni Kay Ernst (née Culver; born July 1, 1970) is an American former military officer and politician serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, junior United States Senate, United States senator from Iowa since 2015. A member of the ...
expressed disagreement with Obama's statement that the choice was the Iran nuclear deal or war. When Dempsey testified that the United States had "a range of options" he had presented to Obama, Ernst said: "it's imperative everybody on the panel understand that there are other options available."
Under the JCPOA Iran must submit a full report on its nuclear history before it can receive any sanctions relief.
["The Real Facts on the Iran Nuclear Deal"](_blank)
Center for Arms Control and Non-proliferation (last updated 12 August 2015). The IAEA has confidential technical arrangements with many countries as a matter of
standard operating procedure
A standard operating procedure (SOP) is a set of step-by-step instructions compiled by an organization to help workers carry out routine operations. SOPs aim to achieve efficiency, quality output, and uniformity of performance, while reducing misc ...
.
[Martin Matishak]
"Obama officials deny 'secret deals' in Iran nuclear pact"
''The Hill'' (22 July 2015). "Republican lawmakers refer to these agreements as 'secret side deals' and claim that the JCPOA hinges on a set of agreements no one in the administration has actually seen."
Senator
Tom Cotton
Thomas Bryant Cotton (born May 13, 1977) is an American politician, attorney, and former military officer serving as the junior United States senator for Arkansas since 2015. A member of the Republican Party, he served in the U.S. House of R ...
of Arkansas, a Republican opponent of the agreement, said that Kerry had "acted like
Pontius Pilate
Pontius Pilate (; grc-gre, Πόντιος Πιλᾶτος, ) was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 AD. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of J ...
" and "washed his hands, kicked it to the IAEA, knowing Congress would not get this information unless someone went out to find it." On 30 July Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas introduced a
resolution
Resolution(s) may refer to:
Common meanings
* Resolution (debate), the statement which is debated in policy debate
* Resolution (law), a written motion adopted by a deliberative body
* New Year's resolution, a commitment that an individual mak ...
seeking a delay in the review period, arguing, "The 60-calendar day period for review of such agreement in the Senate cannot be considered to have begun until the Majority Leader certifies that all of the materials required to be transmitted under the definition of the term 'agreement' under such Act, including any side agreements with Iran and United States Government-issued guidance materials in relation to Iran, have been transmitted to the Majority Leader."
On 5 August, IAEA director general
Yukiya Amano
was a Japanese diplomat and the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (July 2009 – 2019). Amano previously served as an international civil servant for the United Nations and its subdivisions.
Early life
Amano was ...
spoke with members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in a closed briefing about two IAEA documents: an agreement on inspection protocols with Iran and an agreement with Iran regarding Iranian disclosure of its previous nuclear activity (known as Possible Military Dimensions).
[Nathan Guttman]
"Fact-Checking the Flame Throwers on Both Sides of Iran Deal"
''Jewish Daily Forward'' (13 August 2015).[Associated Press]
"IAEA can't give Congress its nuke document with Iran, Amano says"
(6 August 2015). Following this briefing with Amano, Corker told reporters: "The majority of members here left with far more questions than they had before the meeting took place" and "We can not get him to even confirm that we will have physical access inside of Parchin." Cardin told reporters: "I thought today was helpful, but it was not a substitute for seeing the document."
State Department spokesman
John Kirby responded, "There's no secret deals between Iran and the IAEA that the P5+1 has not been briefed on in detail" and stated "These kinds of technical arrangements with the IAEA are a matter of standard practice, that they're not released publicly or to other states, but our experts are familiar and comfortable with the contents, which we would be happy to discuss with Congress in a
classified setting."
The
Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation wrote, "The arrangement specifies procedural information regarding how the IAEA will conduct its investigation into Iran's past nuclear history, including mentioning the names of informants who will be interviewed. Releasing this information would place those informants, and the information they hold, at risk."
Mark Hibbs of the Nuclear Policy Program at the
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace (CEIP) is a nonpartisan international affairs think tank headquartered in Washington D.C. with operations in Europe, South and East Asia, and the Middle East as well as the United States. Founded in ...
and Thomas Shea, a former IAEA safeguards official and former head of Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs at the
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) is one of the United States Department of Energy national laboratories, managed by the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Science. The main campus of the laboratory is in Richland, Washington.
O ...
, wrote that the charges of a "secret side deal" made by opponents of the agreement were a "
manufactured controversy
A manufactured controversy (sometimes shortened to manufactroversy) is a contrived disagreement, typically motivated by profit or ideology, designed to create public confusion concerning an issue about which there is no substantial academic dispute ...
".
Hibbs and Shea wrote, "The IAEA has safeguards agreement with 180 countries. All have similar information protection provisions. Without these, governments would not open their nuclear programs for multilateral oversight. So IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano was acting by the book on August 5 when he told members of Congress that he couldn't share with them the details of
heverification protocol the IAEA had negotiated with Iran as part of a bilateral 'roadmap.'"
David Albright
David Albright, M.Sc., is an American physicist and a weapons expert who is the founder of the non-governmental Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS), its current president, and author of several books on proliferation of atom ...
, founder and president of the
Institute for Science and International Security
The Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) is a nonprofit, non-governmental institution to inform the public about "science and policy issues affecting international security".
Founded in 1993, the group is led by founder and ...
and a former IAEA nuclear inspector, stated that the demands for greater transparency regarding the agreement between Iran and IAEA "aren't unreasonable" and "Iran is a big screamer for more confidentiality. Nonetheless, if the IAEA wanted to make it more open, it could." Albright also proposed that the United States "should clearly and publicly confirm, and Congress should support with legislation, that if Iran does not address the IAEA's concerns about the past military dimensions of its nuclear programs, U.S. sanctions will not be lifted".
=Congressional support and opposition
=
Republican leaders vowed to attempt to kill the agreement as soon as it was released, even before classified sections were made available to Congress, and "Republican lawmakers raced to send out news releases criticizing it."
[Jennifer Steinhauer]
"Republicans Have Minds Made Up as Debate Begins on Iran Nuclear Deal"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). According to ''The Washington Post'', "most congressional Republicans remained deeply skeptical, some openly scornful, of the prospect of relieving economic sanctions while leaving any Iranian uranium-enrichment capability intact."
Mitch McConnell said the deal "appears to fall well short of the goal we all thought was trying to be achieved, which was that Iran would not be a nuclear state".
A ''New York Times'' analysis stated that Republican opposition to the agreement "seems born of genuine distaste for the deal's details, inherent distrust of President Obama, intense loyalty to Israel and an expansive view of the role that sanctions have played beyond preventing Iran's nuclear abilities".
''The Washington Post'' identified 12 issues related to the agreement on which the two sides disagreed, including the efficacy of inspections at undeclared sites; the effectiveness of the snapback sanctions; the significance of limits on enrichment; the significance of IAEA side agreements; the effectiveness of inspections of military sites; the consequences of walking away from an agreement; and the effects of lifting sanctions.
One area of disagreement between supporters and opponents of the JCPOA is the consequences of walking away from an agreement, and whether renegotiation of the agreement is a realistic option.
Senator
Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
, Democrat of New York, an opponent of the agreement, called for the U.S. government to keep sanctions in place, strengthen them, and "pursue the hard-trodden path of diplomacy once more, difficult as it may be".
Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee, said that he believed that it was "hyperbole" to say that the agreement was the only alternative to war.
President Obama, by contrast, argued that renegotiation of the deal is unrealistic, stating in his American University speech, "the notion that there is a better deal to be had. ... relies on vague promises of toughness" and stated, "Those making this argument are either ignorant of Iranian society, or they are not being straight with the American people. ... Neither the Iranian government, or the Iranian opposition, or the Iranian people would agree to what they would view as a total surrender of their sovereignty."
Obama also argued, "those who say we can just walk away from this deal and maintain sanctions are selling a fantasy. Instead of strengthening our position, as some have suggested, Congress' rejection would almost certainly result in multi-lateral sanctions unraveling," because "our closest allies in Europe or in Asia, much less China or Russia, certainly are not going to enforce existing sanctions for another five, 10, 15 years according to the dictates of the U.S. Congress because their willingness to support sanctions in the first place was based on Iran ending its pursuit of nuclear weapons. It was not based on the belief that Iran cannot have peaceful nuclear power."
Secretary of State Kerry echoed these remarks, saying in July 2015 that the idea of a "'better deal,' some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran's complete capitulation . ... is a fantasy, plain and simple, and our intelligence community will tell you that".
Senator
Al Franken
Alan Stuart Franken (born May 21, 1951) is an American comedian, politician, media personality, and author who served as a United States senator from Minnesota from 2009 to 2018. He gained fame as a writer and performer on the television comed ...
, Democrat of Minnesota, a supporter of the agreement, wrote: "Some say that, should the Senate reject this agreement, we would be in position to negotiate a "better" one. But I've spoken to representatives of the five nations that helped broker the deal, and they agree that this simply wouldn't be the case."
On 28 July 2015 Representative
Sander M. Levin
Sander Martin Levin (born September 6, 1931) is an American politician who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1983 to 2019, representing (numbered as the from 1983 to 1993 and as the from 1993 to 2013). Levin, a member o ...
, Democrat of Michigan, the longest-serving Jewish member now in Congress, announced in a lengthy statement that he would support the JCPOA, saying, "the agreement is the best way" to stop Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that a rejection of the agreement would lead the international sanctions regime to "quickly fall apart", as "sanctions likely would not be continued even by our closest allies, and the United States would be isolated trying to enforce our unilateral sanctions as to Iran's banking and oil sectors."
A key figure in the congressional review process is Senator
Benjamin Cardin
Benjamin Louis Cardin (born October 5, 1943) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Maryland, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously was the U.S. representativ ...
of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
, a Democrat who is the
ranking member
In United States politics, a ranking member is the most senior member of a congressional or state legislative committee from the minority party. On many committees the ranking minority member, along with the Chair, serve as ''ex officio'' members ...
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
[Susan Page]
"Cardin: If Iran deal survives, more U.S. aid likely to Israel, Gulf states"
''USA Today'' (21 July 2015). Cardin took a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu opposing the agreement and participated in a private 90-minute session with Energy Secretary Moniz supporting the agreement.
On 21 July Cardin said that if the agreement is implemented, the United States should increase military aid to Israel and friendly Gulf states.
On 4 August 2015 three key and closely watched Senate Democrats—
Tim Kaine
Timothy Michael Kaine (; born February 26, 1958) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Virginia since 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 38th lieutenant governor of Virgini ...
of Virginia (a Foreign Relations Committee member),
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Sue Boxer (née Levy; born November 11, 1940) is an American politician and lobbyist who served in the United States Senate, representing California from 1993 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the U.S. ...
of California (also a Foreign Relations Committee member), and
Bill Nelson
Clarence William Nelson II (born September 29, 1942) is an American politician and attorney serving as the administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Nelson previously served as a United States Senator from Flor ...
of Florida—announced their support for the agreement.
[Mike DeBonis]
"Three Senate Democrats came off of the fence to support the Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (4 August 2015). In a floor speech that day, Kaine said that the agreement is "far preferable to any other alternative, including war" and, "America has honored its best traditions and shown that patient diplomacy can achieve what isolation and hostility cannot."
In a similar floor speech the same day, Nelson said, "I am convinced
hat the agreement
A hat is a head covering which is worn for various reasons, including protection against weather conditions, ceremonial reasons such as university graduation, religious reasons, safety, or as a fashion accessory. Hats which incorporate mecha ...
will stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon for at least the next 10 to 15 years. No other available alternative accomplishes this vital objective" and "If the U.S. walks away from this multinational agreement, I believe we would find ourselves alone in the world with little credibility." Conversely, another closely watched senator,
Chuck Schumer
Charles Ellis Schumer ( ; born November 23, 1950) is an American politician serving as Senate Majority Leader since January 20, 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Schumer is in his fourth Senate term, having held his seat since 1999, and ...
of New York, who was expected to make a bid to become Senate Democratic leader,
announced his opposition to the agreement on 6 August, writing, "there is a strong case that we are better off without an agreement than with one"
According to an Associated Press report, the classified assessment of the
United States Intelligence Community
United may refer to:
Places
* United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community
* United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community
Arts and entertainment Films
* ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film
* ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...
on the agreement concludes that because Iran will be required by the agreement to provide international inspectors with "unprecedented volume of information about nearly every aspect of its existing nuclear program", Iran's ability to conceal a covert weapons program will be diminished.
[Ken Dilanian]
"US officials say they can tell if Iran is cheating on deal"
Associated Press (12 August 2015).[Karoun Demirjian]
"House Dems pounce on intel assessment of Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (13 August 2015). In a 13 August letter to colleagues, ten current and former Democratic members of the
House Select Committee on Intelligence
The United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI), also known as the House Intelligence Committee, is a United States congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, currently chaired by ...
(including House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi
Nancy Patricia Pelosi (; ; born March 26, 1940) is an American politician who has served as Speaker of the United States House of Representatives since 2019 and previously from 2007 to 2011. She has represented in the United States House of ...
and Intelligence Committee ranking member
Adam Schiff
Adam Bennett Schiff (born June 22, 1960) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who has served as a U.S. representative since 2001. A member of the Democratic Party, he has represented since 2013.
Schiff's district (numbered as the 2 ...
) referred to this assessment as a reason to support the agreement, writing, "We are confident that this monitoring and the highly intrusive inspections provided for in the agreement—along with our own intelligence capabilities—make it nearly impossible for Iran to develop a covert enrichment effort without detection."
["Current and Former House Intelligence Committee Members Urge Colleagues to Review Intelligence Community Assessments of Iran Nuclear Deal"](_blank)
, United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence Democratic Office (13 August 2015). The ten members also wrote "You need not take our word for it" and referred members to the classified assessment itself, which is located in an office in the
Capitol basement and is available for members of Congress to read.
=Congressional votes
=
A resolution of disapproval was initially expected to pass both the House and Senate, meaning, "The real challenge for the White House is whether they can marshal enough Democrats to sustain the veto."
Two-thirds of both houses (the House of Representatives and the Senate) are required to override a veto, meaning that one-third of either house (146 votes in the House, or 34 in the Senate) could sustain (uphold) President Obama's veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Amber Phillips]
"Whip count: Where the Senate stands on the Iran deal"
''The Washington Post'' (5 August 2015).[Lauren French]
''Politico'' (13 August 2015).
By early September 2015, 34 senators had publicly confirmed support for the deal, a crucial threshold because it ensured that the Senate could sustain (i. e., uphold) any veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Amber Phillips]
"President Obama's Iran deal nears a major symbolic victory"
''The Washington Post'' (8 September 2015). Senator
Barbara Mikulski
Barbara Ann Mikulski ( ; born July 20, 1936) is an American politician and social worker who served as a United States senator from Maryland from 1987 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, she also served in the United States House of Repr ...
of Maryland announced support on 2 September, a day after
Chris Coons
Christopher Andrew Coons (born September 9, 1963) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the junior United States senator from Delaware since 2010. A member of the Democratic Party, Coons served as the county executive of New Castle Cou ...
of Delaware and
Bob Casey, Jr.
Robert Patrick Casey Jr. (born April 13, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Pennsylvania, a seat he has held since 2007. A member of the Democratic Party, Casey previously served as Pe ...
, of Pennsylvania also announced support, reaching 34 votes and assuring that an eventual disapproval resolution passed in the Senate could not override an Obama veto.
By the following day, 38 Democratic senators supported the deal, 3 were opposed, and 5 were still undecided.
By 8 September, all senators had made a commitment on the agreement, with 42 in support (40 Democrats and two independents) and 58 opposed (54 Republicans and four Democrats).
It was possible for senators in support of the agreement to kill the disapproval resolution outright in the Senate by effectively
filibuster
A filibuster is a political procedure in which one or more members of a legislative body prolong debate on proposed legislation so as to delay or entirely prevent decision. It is sometimes referred to as "talking a bill to death" or "talking out ...
ing it, making it unnecessary for Obama to veto a disapproval resolution at all.
But this was possible only if at least 41 voted to do so, and several senators in support of the agreement, including Coons, "have suggested they'd prefer an up-or-down vote on the deal, instead of blocking it altogether".
The apparent success of a strategy to marshal congressional support for the deal, linked to a carefully orchestrated rollout of endorsements (although
Democratic Senate Whip Dick Durbin
Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate Dem ...
and other officials disputed the suggestion of coordination
) was attributed to lessons the White House and congressional Democrats learned during struggles in previous summers with Republicans, in particular over Obamacare.
An August 2015 meeting at which top diplomats from the UK, Russia, China, Germany, and France told 10 undecided Democratic senators they had no intention of returning to the negotiating table was reported to be particularly crucial.
Coons said: "They were clear and strong that we will not join you in re-imposing sanctions."
On 20 August 2015, Pelosi said that House Democrats had the votes to uphold a veto of a resolution of disapproval.
[Sabrina Siddiqui]
"Congress does not have votes to block Iran deal, says Nancy Pelosi"
''The Guardian'' (20 August 2015). To sustain a veto, she would need to hold only 146 of the 188 House Democrats; by 20 August, about 60 House Democrats had publicly declared their support for the final agreement, and about 12 had publicly declared their opposition.
In May 2015, before the final agreement was announced, 151 House Democrats signed in support for the broad outlines in the April framework agreement; none of those signatories have announced opposition to the final agreement.
It was originally expected that the House would vote on a formal resolution of disapproval introduced by Representative Ed Royce, Republican of California, the chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. As the Senate moved toward a vote on a resolution of disapproval, House leadership (under Republican control) planned to vote on a similar resolution of disapproval.
But conservative Republicans "revolted in protest" as "the chamber's right flank wanted tougher action from its leader" and the House Republican leadership (under Speaker John Boehner) planned to vote instead chose to bring a resolution of approval to the floor "as a way to effectively force Democrats who had voiced support for the president to formally register such endorsement".
On 11 September 2015 the resolution failed, as expected, on a 162–269 vote; 244 Republicans and 25 Democrats voted no, while 162 Democrats and no Republicans voted yes.
On the same day House Republicans held two additional votes, one on a resolution claiming that the Obama administration had failed to meet the requirements of a congressional review period on the deal and another resolution which would prevent the United States from lifting any sanctions.
[Lauren French]
"House GOP disapproves of Iran deal in symbolic vote"
''Politico'' (11 September 2015). The former resolution passed on a party-line vote, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed; the latter resolution passed on nearly a party-line vote, with all Republicans and two Democrats in favor, and every other Democrat opposed.
["Final Vote Results for Roll Call 492"](_blank)
an
"Final Vote Results for Roll Call 494"
(11 September 2015), Office of the Clerk of the United States House of Representatives. The House action against the resolution was a "symbolic vote that will have no consequence for the implementation of the deal", and the two anti-agreement measures passed by the House were seen as "unlikely to even reach Obama's desk".
On 10 September, the day before the vote, Boehner threatened to "use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow, and delay this agreement from being fully implemented", and said that a lawsuit by House Republicans against the president (claiming that the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act was not followed) was "an option that is very possible".
Four months later House Republicans abandoned their plans for a lawsuit against the administration over the JCPOA.
In July 2015, conservative legal activist
Larry Klayman
Larry Elliot Klayman (born July 20, 1951) is an American attorney, right-wing activist, and former U.S. Justice Department prosecutor. He founded both Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch.
In addition to his numerous lawsuits against the Clinton adm ...
filed a lawsuit against Obama and members of Congress in
federal court in West Palm Beach, Florida, asserting that the agreement should be considered a treaty requiring Senate ratification. Klayman's suit was dismissed for lack of
standing
Standing, also referred to as orthostasis, is a position in which the body is held in an ''erect'' ("orthostatic") position and supported only by the feet. Although seemingly static, the body rocks slightly back and forth from the ankle in the s ...
in September 2015.
Review period in Iran
Iranian Supreme Leader Khamenei issued a letter of guidelines to President Rouhani, ordering him on how to proceed with the deal.
[
] On 21 June 2015, the
Iranian Parliament
The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The P ...
(Majlis) decided to form a committee to study the JCPOA and to wait at least 80 days before voting on it.
[Thomas Erdbrink]
"Iran Lawmakers to Wait 80 Days Before Voting on Nuclear Deal"
''The New York Times'' (21 July 2015). Foreign minister
Mohammad Javad Zarif
Mohammad Javad Zarif Khansari ( fa, محمدجواد ظریف خوانساری, Mohammad-Javād Zarīf Khānsāri ; ; born 8 January 1960) is an Iranian career diplomat and academic. He was the foreign minister of Iran from 2013 until 2021 in th ...
and Atomic Energy Organization of Iran chief
Ali Akbar Salehi
Ali Akbar Salehi ( fa, علیاکبر صالحی, ; born 24 March 1949) is an Iranian academic, diplomat and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, who served in this position from 2009 to 2010 and also from 2013 to 2021. He se ...
, defended the deal in Parliament on the same day.
Although the
Iranian constitution
The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran ( fa, قانون اساسی جمهوری اسلامی ایران, ''Qanun-e Asasi-ye Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Iran'') was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replac ...
gives Parliament the right to cancel the deal, it was reported that this outcome is unlikely.
''The New York Times'' reported, "the legislators have effectively opted to withhold their judgment until they know whether the American Congress approves of the deal."
In televised remarks made on 23 July 2015, Iranian President
Hassan Rouhani
Hassan Rouhani ( fa, حسن روحانی, Standard Persian pronunciation: ; born Hassan Fereydoun ( fa, حسن فریدون, links=no); 12 November 1948) is an Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. ...
rejected domestic criticism of the JCPOA from Iranian hardliners, "such as the
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC; fa, سپاه پاسداران انقلاب اسلامی, Sepāh-e Pāsdārān-e Enghelāb-e Eslāmi, lit=Army of Guardians of the Islamic Revolution also Sepāh or Pasdaran for short) is a branch o ...
and its allies", which "have criticized the accord as an invasive affront to the country's sovereignty and a capitulation to foreign adversaries, particularly the United States".
[Thomas Erdbrink & Rock Gladstone]
"Iran's President Defends Nuclear Deal in Blunt Remarks"
''The New York Times'' (23 July 2015). In remarks described by ''The New York Times ''as "blunt" and uncharacteristically frank, Rouhani claimed a popular mandate to make an agreement based on
his election in 2013 and warned that the alternative was "an economic Stone Age" brought on by sanctions which (as the ''Times'' described) have "shriveled oil exports and denied the country access to the
global banking system".
On 26 July, a two-page, top-secret directive sent to Iranian newspaper editors from Iran's
Supreme National Security Council
Supreme National Security Council (SNSC; fa, شورای عالی امنیت ملی ''Showrāye Āliye Amniyate Mellī'' also ''Supreme Council for National Security'') is the national security council of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the current ...
surfaced online.
[Kasra Naji]
"Iran nuclear: Media ordered to be positive about deal"
BBC Persian
BBC Persian ( fa, بیبیسی فارسی) is the Persian language broadcast station and subsidiary of BBC World Service which conveys the latest political, social, economical and sport news relevant to Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, and ...
(26 July 2015). In the document, newspapers are instructed to avoid criticism of the agreement and to avoid giving the impression of "a rift" at the highest levels of government.
The
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
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...
reported that the document appears to be aimed at constraining criticism of the JCPOA by Iranian hardliners. Status in U.S. law
In a letter sent to then U.S. Representative Mike Pompeo, the U.S. State Department said that the JCPOA "is not a Reactions in U.S. media
Some argue that deterrence is the key to ensuring not just that Iran is in compliance with the agreement but also to preventing them from developing nuclear weapons. U.S. denies recertification and then withdraws (2017–present)
The United States certified in April 2017 and in July 2017 that Iran was complying with the deal.
On 13 October 2017 President Trump announced that he would not make the certification required under the U.S. withdrawal (May 2018)
Consequences of U.S. withdrawal
The Iranian currency dropped significantly right after Trump announced the U.S. withdrawal. The U.S. dollar was worth 35,000 rial before U.S. withdrawal and 300,000 in 2021. International banks that chose to trade with Iran during the sanctions paid large fines. Iran's supreme leader,