Top US experts published a letter in which they urge the Obama administration to seek a better deal with Iran, as the one currently proposed is deemed to fail.
US Secretary of State John Kerry (L) with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif. (AP/Jason DeCrow)
A group of leading American authorities on diplomacy and security with vast experience, including some of whom worked with President Barack Obama during his first term, warned on Wednesday that the proposed deal on Iran’s nuclear program is not adequate and may not prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.
In an open letter published under the auspices of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, the group of former US generals and foreign policy experts cautioned that an Iran nuclear deal would “fall short of meeting the administration’s own standard of a ‘good’ agreement” unless it included a tougher line on United Nations nuclear inspections and conditions for sanctions relief.
“Most of us would have preferred a stronger agreement,” the letter read. “The agreement will not prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapons capability. It will not require the dismantling of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. It will, however, reduce that infrastructure for the next 10 to 15 years.”
The group said the agreement must include a “timely and effective mechanism to reimpose sanctions automatically” if Iran is found to be in violation of the agreement, including denying access to UN monitors. The Iranians said they will not grant access to monitors who wish to probe their military sites.
The letter underscored that the agreement does not “purport to be a comprehensive strategy towards Iran. It does not address Iran’s support for terrorist organizations (like Hezbollah and Hamas), its interventions in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen (its “regional hegemony”), its ballistic missile arsenal, or its oppression of its own people.”
The group offered tips for US policy in the Middle East, and specifically in Iraq, Syria and Yemen, and in the US-lead campaign against the Islamic State (ISIS0 terror organization.
“Some argue that any nuclear agreement now simply further empowers bad Iranian behavior. And there is a lot to this argument. This is why we believe that the United States must bolster any agreement by doing more in the region to check Iran and support our traditional friends and allies,” and chiefly Israel.
US Secretary of State John Kerry. (AP/Ed Jones)
The letter was released as US Secretary of State John Kerry prepares to fly to Vienna on Friday to join the talks before the June 30th deadline.
Negotiations are expected to be extended past the deadline, as reports emerging from the talks provided by both negotiating parties indicate that they are currently at a stand still, with the Iranians toughening their stances.
Dennis Ross, an adviser on Iran and the Middle East in Obama’s first term, David Petraeus, former CIA director and US commander in Iraq, Robert Einhorn, a former member of the US negotiating team with Iran, retired US General James Cartwright and Gary Samore, an Obama adviser on nuclear policy turned president of the advocacy group United Against Nuclear, Stephen Hadley, a national security adviser to both former President George W. Bush and his brother, Republican presidential contender Jeb Bush, and Senator Joseph Lieberman are among the noted signatories of the letter.
By: United with Israel Staff
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