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Why I’m opposing the Iran nuclear deal By Charles Schumer I’ve spent the last three weeks carefully studying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I’ve decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval. I examined this deal in three parts: nuclear restrictions on Iran in the first 10 years, nuclear restrictions after 10 years and non-nuclear components and consequences. In each case, I’ve asked: Are we better off with the agreement or without it? In the first 10 years, there are serious weaknesses. First, inspections are not “anywhere, anytime”; the 24-day delay before...

I’ve spent the last three weeks carefully studying the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. I’ve decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval. I examined this deal in three parts: nuclear restrictions on Iran in the first 10 years, nuclear restrictions after 10 years and non-nuclear components and consequences. In each case, I’ve asked: Are we better off with the agreement or without it? In the first 10 years, there are serious weaknesses. First, inspections are not “anywhere, anytime”;

<p>Washington (CNN)New York Sen. Chuck Schumer, an influential Jewish Democrat who's poised to assume leadership of his party in the Senate, will oppose President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran, he announced on Thursday evening.</p> <p>"After deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval," Schumer wrote in a 1,600-word post on the website Medium.</p>

WASHINGTON — Senator Chuck Schumer, the most influential Jewish voice in Congress, said Thursday night that he would oppose President Obama’s deal to limit Iran’s nuclear program. “Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their point of view that cannot simply be dismissed,” Mr. Schumer, Democrat of New York, said in a lengthy statement. “This has made evaluating the agreement a difficult and deliberate endeavor, and after deep study, careful thought and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval.” Mr. Schumer had spent the last several weeks...

John Kerry’s “don’t screw the Ayatollah” sales pitch has worked about as well as one might imagine today. One of the key figures for Kerry and Barack Obama to win on Congressional approval for the deal seems to care less about Ali Khameini’s trust in American good faith than in protecting American interests. Former DCCC chair Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) told Newsday that he will oppose the deal, despite a great deal of thought on how he might be able to support it: The highest-ranking Jewish Democrat in the House announced his opposition to the nuclear accord with Iran...

An Iranian official recently stated that no International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) personnel will be permitted to enter military or missile sites. Another stated that "no country is permitted to know the details of future inspections conducted by the IAEA." Their statements are probably consistent. There may well be other secret deals we don't know about and perhaps never will. Meanwhile, Iran is preparing to test long range ballistic missiles "to prove that the missile ban was invalid." It's not MY fault. I. No IAEA inspections of the sites that matter mostIn an interview on Al Jazeera TV last week Ali Akbar Velayati, Security Adviser to...

The United States on Monday received a vote of confidence on the deal with Iran, as Gulf Arab states welcomed the deal negotiated with world powers, The Associated Press (AP) reported. At the same time, they said they would like further assurances that the U.S. would help them counter increasing Iranian assertiveness in the region. Speaking for the six-member Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Qatar's Foreign Minister said that the bloc had been impressed by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry's presentation of the agreement and explanations of how it will be verified and enforced. "Consequently, the GCC countries have welcomed...

Iran’s ambassador to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said the nuclear inspection organization is barred from revealing to the United States any details of deals it has inked with Tehran to inspect its contested nuclear program going forward, according to regional reports. Recent disclosures by Iran indicate that the recently inked nuclear accord includes a series of side deals on critical inspections regimes that are neither public nor subject to review by the United States. Reza Najafi, Iran’s ambassador and permanent envoy to the IAEA, stated over the weekend that no country is permitted to know the details of...

Unless the US Congress votes in opposition, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) deal with Iran with go through. What really happened and why did it happen the way it did? What happened is gradually becoming clear. It is revealed daily just how horrendous the deal really is. On every point — enrichment, centrifuges, stocks of fissile material, inspections, sanctions on the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps members and businesses, "snapback," etc. — the Obama administration caved completely. Concessions on ballistic missiles and arms sales were thrown in at the last minute; the administration lied about it all, while Iran...

Scattered around the U.S. Capitol complex are a series of Sensitive Compartmentalized Information Facilities, or SCIFs, which are typically used to hold Top Secret information. But today in these deeply secure settings are a series of unclassified documents—items dealing with the Iran nuclear deal that are not secret, but that the Obama administration is nevertheless blocking the public from reading. The Obama administration delivered 18 documents to Congress on July 19, in accordance with legislation requiring a congressional review of the nuclear deal. Only one of these documents is classified, while the remaining 17 are unclassified. Yet many of these...

Chuck Schumer is getting an earful from opponents of the Iran nuclear deal. More than 10,000 phone calls have flooded his office line the past two weeks, organized by a group looking to kill the deal. Another group has dropped seven figures on TV in New York City to pressure Schumer and other lawmakers to vote against the plan. The powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee has put its muscle behind an effort to lobby the New Yorker against it. And Dov Hikind, a state assemblyman from Brooklyn, was arrested for disorderly conduct while protesting the deal outside Schumer’s office....

On Sunday, New York City’s AM 970 host John Catsimatidis had former Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) on his “The Cats Roundtable” program to talk about the Iran nuclear deal. Lieberman started off by ripping the White House for its proposed Iran nuke deal by saying, “First, it’s a deal with somebody we can’t trust. Why? Because they have said for years and continue to say even after the agreement was signed, ‘Death to America.'”

How the senator from New York could change the game in Congress if he has the guts. In April 2010, following a series of deliberate slights and insults by the Obama administration directed at Israel and its prime minister, including a threat by the State Department that the depth of the US-Israel alliance would depend on the progress of peace talks, Senator Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s ranking Democrat and Obama ally placed a call to the White House. The senator had had just about enough. He informed White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel in no uncertain terms that the...

Many Congressional Democrats, long over their deep concerns about George W. Bush's 'imperial' presidency, have taken to cheering on President Obama has he usurps and arrogates power in the name of "progress." This phenomenon was on full display as Democrats actively urged Obama to pull the trigger on his unilateral immigration fiat, which he'd repeatedly dismissed as illegal in the recent past (at least one federal court has since agreed). They similarly defended the president's various power grabs on Obamacare, including delaying and altering entire provisions of the law for political reasons, as well as appropriating billions in payments to...

The Jerusalem Post reports: Secretary of State John Kerry would not guarantee the US will veto unilateral Palestinian actions at the United Nations, speaking to reporters on Tuesday. “We’ve made no determinations about language, approaches, specific resolutions, any of that,” the secretary told the press in London. “This isn’t the time to detail private conversations. or speculate on a UN Security Council resolution that hasn’t even been tabled.” Tabled yet or not, Jordan and France have publicly declared their intentions to move forward with resolutions that would set a UN-mandated timeline for Israel’s withdrawal from the West Bank, without approval...

In response to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's recent remarks and reelection, a senior Obama administration official tells Politico that the United States may withdraw support of Israel at the United Nations. According to Politico's Michael Crowley, "the official wouldn’t rule out a modified American posture at the United Nations, where the U.S. has long fended off resolutions criticizing Israeli settlement activity and demanding its withdrawal from Palestinian territories." “We are signaling that if the Israeli government’s position is no longer to pursue a Palestinian state, we’re going to have to broaden the spectrum of options we pursue going forward,”...

Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of Capitol Hill’s most influential voices in the Iran nuclear debate, is strongly endorsing passage of a law opposed by President Barack Obama that would give Congress an avenue to reject the White House-brokered framework unveiled last week.

The White House on Tuesday expressed confidence it could win over enough Democrats in Congress to stymie an effort to allow lawmakers to approve any nuclear deal with Iran. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), who will likely become the next Senate Democratic leader, dealt a blow to the White House on Monday when he reiterated support for congressional review of an Iran deal. The White House believes Congress should not have the final say on an agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program. Officials are making a full-court press to convince Democrats to give negotiators at least until the June 30...

Sen. Chuck Schumer is famous for his ability to locate the nearest TV camera and plant himself squarely in front of the lens. And yet, as about 8,000 rallied in Manhattan Wednesday night on an issue near and dear to Schumer’s heart — Israel’s security — the senator was a no-show. The rally was in opposition to the Iranian nuclear deal. Schumer was absent because he hasn’t yet decided whether to do the right thing and oppose President Obama’s disastrous deal, or do the opposite of the right thing and shepherd it through Congress. Israel’s supporters in the United States...

Seth Mandel explains how President Hussein Obama is using (a willing) Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) to drive a wedge in the US-Israel relationship. [N]othing Obama has done to damage Israel’s standing in Congress could compare to getting Chuck Schumer — the supposed shomer (guardian, in Hebrew) of Israel — to ensure the survival of a nuclear deal that rearranges America’s Mideast alliances by elevating Tehran at the expense of the Israelis, the Saudis, the Jordanians and the Egyptians, among others. And that’s why crowds in Times Square Wednesday night chanted “Where is Chuck Schumer?” As Schumer continues to avoid...