41 Republicans and 41 Democrats – say they hope diplomatic efforts with Iran succeed in Vienna over the next four months – but also call for the “rapid and dramatic” expansion of sanctions if negotiations fail.
The letter began circulating less than two weeks ago, and has attracted 76 signatories since its release. Senate aides told The Jerusalem Post the letter will be sent to the White House early this week.
A source with a pro-Israel organization characterized the letter’s message as “a very significant statement of Senate policy in that it specifies the core principles in final agreement.
A nuclear Iran is a threat to the United States and Israel. This is a bipartisan issue that should concern all Americans. To read more, follow the link above!
At talks in Geneva on the nuclear program with six world powers on Tuesday, Iran’s negotiators presented a proposal on defusing a decade-old standoff. But both sides said it was too early to talk of a breakthrough.
Any easing by Washington of sanctions on Iran in exchange for Tehran taking steps to scale back its nuclear program is likely to be fleeting and symbolic, with any moves for bigger concessions likely to be blocked by Congress.
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Even if Iran promises to take serious steps, it is unlikely to satisfy key members of the US Congress, which generally takes a harder line on Iran than President Barack Obama’s administration.
Lawmakers including Robert Menendez, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, have signaled they want Tehran to stop even low-level enrichment of uranium used in generating power before they would take steps to wind down existing sanctions, or even agree not to put through tougher ones.
Iran will reportedly offer to stop enriching uranium to levels of 20% purity in upcoming talks with world powers in Geneva, as well as offer to open the country’s nuclear facilities to more intrusive international inspections,The Wall Street Journalcited officials as saying on Tuesday.
The Islamic Republic is also considering offering to close the underground uranium-enrichment facility near Qom, according to the report.
In return for meeting the key demand of the P5+1 group, Tehran was reportedly set to ask the US and EU to start easing economic sanctions…
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For Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz, the focus of this UN General Assembly session is absolutely Iran and Iran’s nuclear program.
Ahead of the upcoming meeting of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany, Steinitz told The Jerusalem Post on Monday that he will be meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to discuss “a variety of things,” including the situation in Syria and possibly the Palestinian situation. But first on the docket for Steinitz is, of course, Iran.
In an interview with thePost on September 5, Steinitz said Iran was “more dangerous than North Korea.” On Monday, Steinitz called the Iranian nuclear project “the most critical concern of our time.”
“Rouhani really wants negotiations,” Steinitz said. “He’d probably like to achieve an agreement. But what kind of agreement? Will it be like the one that was achieved with North Korea? We know what was the final result.
“I think after this terrible mistake, this terrible failure with North Korea, we have to be extremely cautious not to repeat the same mistake.”
LONDON - The diplomatic thaw between the West and Iran could quickly chill again if the two sides are unable to master the many moving parts of Tehran’s disputed nuclear program under the weight of more than three decades of distrust.
The dispute is not only about the West stopping Iran building a bomb, but also about preventing it expanding its capabilities to the point where it could make a dash for nuclear weapons - known as “breakout” - if it chose to.
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“In as much as they have the ability to indigenously develop a nuclear bomb, they already have a nuclear-weapons capability,” said Joshi. “Now the issue that is looming is enrichment capacity. By the middle of next year, capacity will be so high that some fear that it would be at that dangerous level of undetectable breakout.”
