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NUKEWARS
White House intensifies political campaign for Iran deal
by Staff Writers
Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2014


New sanctions against Iran would sabotage deal: Gates
Washington (AFP) Jan 17, 2014 - Proposals by US lawmakers to impose new sanctions against Iran would be a mistake that would sabotage a possible diplomatic deal with Tehran, former Pentagon chief Robert Gates warned Thursday.

"I think that the president's opposition to a bill that would impose additional sanctions now is absolutely right," Gates said at an event highlighting his newly released memoir.

"To vote additional sanctions today would be I think a deal-killer," said Gates, who served as defense secretary under President Barack Obama and his predecessor, George W. Bush.

The Obama administration has lobbied against a push by some members of Congress to introduce additional economic sanctions over Iran's nuclear program, saying it would undermine recent diplomatic progress after Tehran agreed to a six-month interim accord.

"As hard as it may be for people to realize, what we may be seeing is the success of the sanctions effort done by president (Bill) Clinton, intensified by president Bush and even more so by president Obama, to force the Iranians to come to the table because of economic hardships," Gates said.

"I think we have succeeded to the extent that we now have the Iranians at the table."

He pointed to the clear effect of economic pressure on the Islamic republic.

The former CIA director did say he favored a mechanism -- either through legislation or a "formal commitment" -- that if talks fail, Iran would face even more drastic economic penalties than those in place before the interim deal.

"It could be a negotiating asset for the administration in terms of telling the Iranians if you roll us for six months, or slow-roll us for some period beyond that and we don't end up with an agreement that meets our needs, you'll not just go back to the status quo ante but you will face a situation that is even more dire," he said.

Gates, a Republican with a reputation as a hard-nosed pragmatist when it comes to foreign policy, reiterated his view that bombing Iran's nuclear facilities would not eliminate the program and merely set it back by a few years.

But he said it was not at all assured that the current interim deal would lead to a full-fledged agreement with Iran, given the need to persuade Tehran to abandon a possible nuclear weapons capability.

"I think it's a steep hill because the only acceptable agreement for the longer term is one that rolls back the Iranian program from allowing Iran to be a nuclear weapons threshold state," he said.

And an agreement would have to provide "intrusive enough inspections that ensures that if they decide to violate the agreement, we have ample time to react militarily or in other ways."

The current interim deal, between major powers and Iran, allows for a modest easing of sanctions in return for a freeze on some parts of Tehran's nuclear program.

It also calls for a timetable of inspections of nuclear sites by the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog.

The White House Thursday intensified an effort to placate political opposition to an interim Iran nuclear deal, as one influential Republican suggested delaying a vote on new sanctions until July.

The Obama administration released an implementation agreement on the pact, which goes into force next week, to defuse claims it struck a secret back channel deal with the Islamic Republic.

Top US nuclear negotiator Wendy Sherman meanwhile held a closed door briefing with skeptical senators, seeking to convince them to hold off on imposing new sanctions that the White House fears could prompt Iran to ditch diplomacy.

The summary of "technical understandings" between Iran and world powers sets the terms of a deal reached in Geneva last year, which will be implemented by the UN watchdog the International Economic Energy Agency (IAEA) officials.

It lists Iranian nuclear facilities to be inspected and a timetable for entry by IAEA officials and contains a payment schedule for nearly $7 billion in blocked Iranian foreign exchange holdings which will be released under terms of the deal.

The administration also made a more detailed document available to a restricted audience of lawmakers and aides in Congress, in line with the IAEA's wish to keep some aspects of the pact confidential, White House spokesman Jay Carney said.

Opponents of the interim nuclear deal between the P5+1 group of powers and Iran warn that it gave up too much in return for what they see as paltry concessions from the Islamic Republic.

Sherman apparently failed to convince the skeptics.

"Really I'm more disturbed now than ever after the briefing," said Republican Senator Lindsey Graham.

"The endgame being contemplated is not even in the ballpark of what I would consider the endgame."

Skeptics of the deal, including Israel and many US lawmakers, argue that Iran must not be allowed even a minimal capacity to enrich uranium in a final agreement.

Obama, backed by many in the analytical community, however argues that such a "perfect" deal is beyond reach. The president is seeking an agreement that ensures Iran can be stopped short of the point where it could quickly produce a nuclear weapon.

Supporters say further toughening sanctions on Tehran's petroleum industry and other sectors would increase Obama's leverage at the negotiating table, but the White House warns that sanctions could lock the United States on a slippery slope to war.

The pro-sanctions camp believe it has at least 59 votes in the Senate and a healthy majority in the House of Representatives and could be approaching the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto Obama has promised.

It remains unclear however whether Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, keen to avoid embarrassing fellow Democrat Obama, will bring the sanctions bill up for a vote.

Republican Senator Bob Corker meanwhile suggested a compromise position, noting that US officials agreed to impose no new sanctions for the six-month duration of the interim deal.

"Why don't we schedule a vote for July 21," he said. "If they haven't reached an agreement that we believe is satisfactory, let's implement on that day."

The P5+1 group includes the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, the United States, Britain, France, Russia, and China, as well as Germany.

The interim deal, meant to buy time for detailed negotiations on thwarting what the West sees as Tehran's drive for nuclear weapons, will go into force on January 20.

"With this implementation plan, we have made concrete progress," the White House said in its summary of the document.

"We will now focus on the critical work of pursuing a comprehensive resolution that addresses our concerns over Iran's nuclear program."

The summary was released amid rising speculation that Secretary of State John Kerry could meet Iranian President Hassan Rouhani at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week.

State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said there were no meetings so far to announce but noted Kerry would be in the Swiss resort at the same time as "a number of Iranian officials."

The summary confirmed that, under the deal, Iran would halt production of near 20 percent uranium and start to dilute the uranium stockpile it already has.

Iran has also committed not to enrich at half of the installed centrifuges at its Natanz plant and three-quarters of installed centrifuges at the Fordow facility.

The Natanz and Fordow sites will now be subject to daily IAEA access as opposed to every few weeks. Its Arak reactor will be subject to monthly IAEA inspections.

Some sanctions relief will be available to Iran on the very first day of the accord.

Once IAEA verification has taken place, the P5+1 will start taking steps to ease the sanctions straitjacket on Iran more broadly.

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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani warned Thursday that he was facing domestic opposition to a landmark nuclear deal with major powers that is to go into effect next week. Rouhani, whose June election has led to a quickening rapprochement with the West after years of hostility, said there was organised opposition in Iran to his efforts to allay Western concerns about its nuclear programme in r ... read more


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