Patriarch of Republicans Stands Up for Iran-G5+1 Agreement: Report
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A former US national security adviser for two Republican presidents said he will endorse the conclusion of nuclear talks between Iran and six world powers, a report said.
Writing an op-ed in the Washington Post’s Sunday edition, Brent Scowcroft supported the July 14 nuclear agreement and urged the Congress not to squander the "epochal" moment of approving the accord.
"My generation is on the sidelines of policymaking now. This is a natural development. But decades of experience strongly suggest that there are epochal moments that should not be squandered," wrote Scowcroft.
Scowcroft, who worked for Presidents Gerald Ford and George H.W. Bush, also likened the accord to agreements Presidents Richard Nixon made with China and Ronald Reagan made with the Soviet Union.
“If the United States could have handed Iran a ‘take it or leave it’ agreement, the terms doubtless would have been more onerous on Iran,” Scowcroft wrote. “But negotiated agreements, the only ones that get signed in times of peace, are compromises by definition."
"It is what President Reagan did with the Soviet Union on arms control; it is what President Nixon did with China," the retired Air Force three-star general wrote. “The seeming effort to make the (Iran nuclear deal) the ultimate test of Congress’s commitment to Israel is probably unprecedented in the annals of relations between two vibrant democracies."
“Let us be clear: There is no credible alternative were Congress to prevent US participation in the nuclear deal. If we walk away, we walk away alone.”
He concluded, “There is no more credible expert on nuclear weapons than Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, who led the technical negotiating. When he asserts that the (Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action) blocks each of Iran’s pathways to the fissile material necessary to make a nuclear weapon, responsible people listen. Twenty-nine eminent US nuclear scientists have endorsed Moniz’s assertions.”
Iran and the Group 5+1 (Russia, China, the US, Britain, France and Germany) finalized the text of lasting deal on Tehran’s nuclear program on July 14.
While the United Nations Security Council has adopted a resolution to endorse the deal, the text of the document needs to be ratified by both Iran's Parliament and the US Congress.
US President Barack Obama has promised a swift veto in the event of a Congressional rejection of the agreement in September. Lawmakers would then have to find enough votes to override the president.