Posted on 03/20/2015 11:22:14 AM PDT by Jim Robinson
Bipartisan resistance to the Obama administration’s push for a nuclear deal with Iran surged on Capitol Hill on Thursday, even as details emerged about a potential agreement that would allow Tehran to retain up to 6,000 uranium enrichment centrifuges while getting immediate relief from international economic sanctions.
Administration witnesses got an earful from representatives of both parties over the administration’s handling of nuclear negotiations involving the U.S., Iran and other world powers that could be reaching a climax in Geneva this week. Many lawmakers say the White House is flagrantly icing Congress out of the deal.
A bipartisan letter signed by 360 House members warned President Obama on Thursday that Iran can’t get “permanent sanctions relief” unless Congress approves it.
A top Democrat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee said the administration is clinging to “preposterous” logic in its pursuit of a deal by the self-imposed deadlines at the end of the month.
Rep. Brad Sherman of California, the committee’s second-ranking Democrat, made the charge during a heated hearing on Iran just hours before The Associated Press reported on a leaked draft of the treaty that Secretary of State John F. Kerry and Iranian negotiators are considering in the final days of negotiation.
One key point of the draft says the U.N. arms embargo on the Islamic republic could be rolled back as a way to entice Iran to curb its nuclear programs.
The most striking revelation centered on the potential concession that would allow Iran to retain 6,000 centrifuges for uranium enrichment — a process than can lead to nuclear weapons grade material — for the next 10 years.
Although the figure would commit the Islamic republic to a 40 percent cut from some 10,000 centrifuges that U.N. weapons inspectors believe it has in operation, the number is notably...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
Obama may just be petulant enough about this to build a 67 vote coalition against him. One can only hope.
Meanwhile... Obama is thinking passing the pipe around people are going to inhale the smoke!
Amazing!
Supposedly some terms of the ‘deal’ will not be divulged to the public.
Don’t get no more transparent than that.
American Lawmakers Write Another Letter on Iran
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3269890/posts
Bipartisan letter, signed by 360 lawmakers, will remind Obama that sanctions relief on Iran requires new legislation from Congress.
A bipartisan letter on Iran signed by 360 members of Congress will be sent to President Barack Obama, one of its House signers said on Thursday, according to The Hill.
The letter, similar to the one 47 Senate Republicans recently sent to Tehran’s leaders, reminds the administration that permanent sanctions relief on Iran as part of a deal to rollback its nuclear program would require new legislation from Congress.
It comes as international negotiators approach a March 24 deadline to reach a framework agreement.
Why is Iran agreeing to drop from 10,000 centrifuges to 6000 ?
Because they have improved centrifuges coming online that perform much better. They only need 5000 to do the job that used to take 10,000.
Simple terms:
We do nothing, they do what they want.
From a treaty standpoint, isn’t it better to say that all they need is 34 against as opposed to 67 to block? Why do they need to override anything?
From what I have read, the letter from the 47 was never “sent” to Tehran’s leaders, only posted on the website of Cotton, IIRC.
Where does the US Senate stand on this?
Other than a few voices in the wilderness, Crickets...
That was my understanding. It was an open letter.
It was from Arutz Sheva in Israel, so they might not have realized that, over there in Israel.
If the Dems are bolting, the deal must really be a Limburger level document.
I thought they had to pass bills, before they’d reveal or even disagree with what was in them.
That makes sense.
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