Conservatives Push Congress On Iran

As Congress contemplates passing new Iran sanctions over the objections of the White House, over five dozen conservative experts and former officials called on Congressional leaders to set out tough parameters for any potential deal with Iran according to a letter obtained by The Daily Beast.

61 senior figures, including some Democrats, wrote to House Speaker John Boehner, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Thursday, asking them to take variety of steps to ensure Iranian compliance with the Joint Plan of Action that the P5+1 countries agreed to with Iran in November and ensure that any final deal meets tough standards.

The letter, signed by former elected officials and diplomats associated with a hawkish foreign policy, including former Sen. Joe Lieberman, former Sen. Norm Coleman and former Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott Abrams, states, “Congress has a chance to play an important role in making clear the consequences of Iranian violations of the interim nuclear deal, in clarifying expectations with respect to future nuclear talks with Tehran, and in creating incentives for Iran to conclude a comprehensive nuclear agreement that protects the national security interests of the United States and its allies.” 

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Besides Lieberman, Coleman and Abrams, other notable signatories include former Under Secretary of State Paula Dobriansky, Weekly StandardEditor William Kristol, former Pentagon Comptroller Dov Zakheim, former Under Secretary of State Robert Joseph, former Assistant Secretary of State Stephen Rademaker, and Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies. The letter was organized with the help of the Foreign Policy Initiative, a conservative-leaning foreign policy organization in Washington.

Read the full article here.