WASHINGTON: US Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian President Hassan Rowhani counter-attacked yesterday against conservatives at home trying to block last week’s nuclear deal.
In Washington, Kerry told sceptical lawmakers that rejection of the accord would give Iran “a great big green light” to accelerate its atomic programme.
Rowhani defended the deal following criticism from Revolutionary Guards and conservative lawmakers that it endangers Iran’s security.
In an unlikely common cause, the US and Iranian governments need to sell the deal to domestic doubters if it is to achieve their aims — curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme in return for an easing of sanctions which have badly hurt the Iranian economy.
Testifying to Congress, Kerry fought back against accusations by a senior Republican that he had been “fleeced” by Iranian negotiators in the final round of Vienna talks. He warned of the consequences of rejecting the deal between Tehran and world powers, including the US.
“We will have squandered the best chance we have to solve this problem through peaceful means,” he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“The fact is that Iran has experience with nuclear fuel cycle technology,” he said as Congress began a 60-day review of the deal to decide whether to support or reject it. “We can’t bomb that knowledge away. Nor can we sanction that knowledge away.”
The committee’s Republican Chairman Bob Corker attacked Kerry over the terms he secured in Vienna. “I believe that you’ve been fleeced,” said Corker.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew said the agreement would not prevent the US from imposing additional sanctions on Iran over issues such as human rights violations, a Congressional concern, if it felt this was necessary.
President Barack Obama says he will veto any attempt to block the deal. Overriding such a veto would require a two-thirds majority in both houses, which means dozens of Obama’s fellow Democrats would have to reject his signature achievement to kill the deal, seen as an unlikely prospect.
Opposition is stiff in Iran, though many hope the accord will deliver prosperity by bringing an end to sanctions and the country’s economic isolation. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has yet to deliver a final verdict.
Conservative members of parliament and Revolutionary Guards commanders say the deal has breached conditions set by Khamenei, and want changes.
Rowhani rejected such doubts. “The deal conveyed this message to the world: Never threaten an Iranian anymore,” he said in a speech broadcast live on television. Agencies
