Iran Nuclear Deal or NO Deal

Iran Nuclear Deal Inches Toward Revival but Faces Critics in U.S.

Republicans warned that any new agreement would “likely be torn up” by the next administration.

The NY Times- Feb 17 th 2022 – By Lara Jakes

WASHINGTON — Painstaking negotiations to revive an international nuclear deal with Iran may be coming to an end, and diplomats say an agreement is within reach after nearly a year of talks. But a backlash among its critics in the United States is just beginning.

Diplomats say the United States and Iran could soon decide whether to return to compliance with the 2015 accord, which limited Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some American economic sanctions. A U.S. official close to the negotiations said on Thursday that “real progress” had been made, but that an agreement was still uncertain.

Among the sticking points, according to other officials who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the delicate talks, is how to reduce Iran’s nuclear fuel production to stop it from quickly developing a bomb.

Yet with a potential deal on the horizon — the European Union’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell Fontelles, said this week that “I strongly believe an agreement is in sight” — Republicans, and even some Democrats, are trying to keep President Biden from recommitting to it.

Republicans see the deal as a political cudgel to wield against Mr. Biden and congressional Democrats, who will be defending thin majorities in the House and Senate in midterm elections this November.

Should Congress vote on the accord, “it is going to be a bloody political battle,” said John P. Hannah, a national security adviser to former Vice President Dick Cheney and a critic of the 2015 deal. “And the message that ought to come out of there is that this administration has caved to Iran.”

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https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/17/us/politics/iran-nuclear-deal-biden.html