FDD Senior Fellow Tells Congress of ‘Deep Concerns’ About State of Negotiations with Iran

WASHINGTON – John Hannah, former national security advisor to Vice President Dick Cheney, told a congressional committee Tuesday that the United States’ concession to allow Iran to continue to enrich uranium will make it very difficult for them to reach a permanent nuclear agreement.

“The administration’s concession on enrichment had the effect of transforming the fundamental objective of U.S. strategy toward Iran,” Hannah told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “It represented the abandonment of the goal of eliminating Iran’s capacity to produce nuclear weapons. Instead, the United States retreated to the much less ambitious goal of simply extending the time it would take Iran to break out to a nuclear bomb.”

Hannah, a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, said he had deep concerns about the state of the current negotiations, arguing the United States and its allies have moved significantly from their red lines to Iran’s red lines.

“In the process, the heart of America’s longtime position with respect to Iran’s nuclear program – that is, the dismantlement, destruction and irreversible rollback of Iran’s nuclear weapons-related infrastructure – has largely been gutted,” Hannah said.

He also raised concerns about a sunset clause, which would make any final deal imposed on Iran’s nuclear program temporary.

“After a period of years, … Iran will not only be free of all sanctions, it will be treated on par with every other non-nuclear weapon state that is a member in good standing of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty,” Hannah said.

He called on Congress to examine the substance of any deal that may emerge between the United States, its allies and Iran, and identify issues where Congress may “stiffen the administration’s position in ways that would mitigate the risks as much as possible.”

“Finding ways to increase pressure on Iran to make a deal is certainly critical,” Hannah said. “But simply pressuring Iran for the purpose of accepting what could amount to a bad deal would be a pyrrhic victory, indeed.”

Hannah served as national security advisor during Vice President Cheney’s second term, after serving as his deputy national security advisor for the Middle East. He was a senior advisor for Secretary of State Warren Christopher and worked in the State Department’s Policy Planning staff. He is a former deputy director and senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and writes widely on foreign policy issues. He recently authored an article in Foreign Policy asserting “It’s Time to Pursue Regime Change in Iran.”

The full text of Hannah’s testimony can be found here.

About the Foundation for Defense of Democracies:
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)3 policy institute focusing on foreign policy and national security. Founded in 2001, FDD combines policy research, democracy and counterterrorism education, strategic communications and investigative journalism in support of its mission to promote pluralism, defend democratic values and fight the ideologies that drive terrorism. Visit our website at www.defenddemocracy.org and connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.

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