Foes and friends of Iran deal ready for another D.C. clash

Politico – Aug 20 th 2022

By :Nahal Toosi

With Washington and Tehran on the verge of restoring the Iran nuclear deal, supporters and critics are prepping for a public relations clash reminiscent of the battle over the original agreement in 2015.

Like seven years ago, lobbyists, activists, foreign officials and lawmakers are using everything from selective media leaks to ad buys to letter-writing campaigns to make their points. The hubbub is likely to grow in the coming days, especially if negotiators in Vienna can agree on terms after months of talks.

For its part, the White House says it’s ready for the fight.

On Thursday, for instance, James Risch of Idaho, the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and a deal critic, tweeted that Iran was pushing President Joe Biden to accept terms that could let it “accelerate nuclear weapons work.” The White House National Security Council took the unusual step of tweeting a rebuke: “Nothing here is true. We would never accept such terms.”

A White House official on Friday declined to get into details when pressed on the administration’s messaging plans, saying it was premature to talk about tactics or strategy since there’s not yet a deal to revive the agreement.

“If a deal is reached,” the official added, “we are fully prepared to advocate for it publicly, brief the Hill, experts and stakeholders, and coordinate with allies and partners, as we have done throughout this process and consistent with our approach to all policy priorities.”

The back-and-forth this time is likely to be less intense than in 2015, when President Barack Obama’s administration was mocked by the right for trying to create a media “echo chamber” to sell the deal to the public.

But once again, the geopolitical stakes are high, and the fight will likely center on Congress, where lawmakers will get a chance to review, in essence, the deal to revive the deal. And while the White House can once again count on a presidential veto as a backstop in the unlikely case lawmakers get enough votes to kill the revival effort, this time there will be a looming midterm election to consider.

To be clear, the negotiations to restore the 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, could still collapse or be delayed. Iran is pushing for changes to the proposed road map to restore the agreement, and the U.S. is weighing options. That said, after more than a year of talks, there’s noticeable optimism among the various parties that the deal can soon be revived.

So the battle lines are hardening once more — on think tank panels, television appearances and in quiet conversations in secure government facilities.

Israel, the foreign government most vocally opposed to the nuclear deal, is sending its national security adviser to Washington next week to air the country’s well-known concerns directly with the White House. Meantime, Israeli officials are turning to the media to publicize their reservations and take jabs at Biden and his aides.

In recent comments to Axios, Israeli officials even questioned whether the U.S. president and his team were “fully aware” of what Israelis argue are “concessions” included in the proposed road map to restore the 2015 agreement.