5 Sep, 2015

Why the Israeli lobby is trying to derail the Iran nuclear deal

By Maryam Azish

Tehran, Aug 29, IRNA – Iran and the Sextet of world powers clinched an agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on July 14 to solve a controversy over Iran’s nuclear program after 12 years of negotiations.

The implementation of JCPOA needs a strong political determination on the part of both sides.

It is also obvious that the pro-Israel lobby in the White House has been trying to convince lawmakers at Congress to veto the agreement.

According to reports, the American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other pro-Israel lobbying groups in the US have launched a massive campaign to defeat the historic agreement in Congress.

AIPAC has reportedly deployed about 300 lobbyists on the Capitol Hill to try to convince lawmakers to vote against the nuclear agreement.

The Israel lobby is spending up to $40 million on television commercials and other propaganda material to warn the public of ‘the dangers of the proposed Iran deal.”

The lawmakers at Congress have promised a vote against the agreement. If sustained, a veto would allow the American President Barack Obama administration to put into practice the agreement without congressional support.

According to the relevant US legislation in force, Congress has the right to review the deal, to endorse or disapprove it, and to override a presidential veto of a congressional decision if a sufficient number of members of Congress choose to do so. Yet the legislature should not take this step without full consideration and recognition of the international consequences of such action.

So the question arises about what would happen if the United States walks away from the nuclear deal with Iran.

The denial of the agreement by US lawmakers might even harm the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency in global trade.

US Secretary of State John Kerry warned that the dollar’s status as the global reserve currency could be threatened if Congress rejects the nuclear accord with Iran.

‘If we turn around and nix the deal and then tell them, ‘You’re going to have to obey our rules and sanctions anyway,’ that is a recipe, very quickly … for the American dollar to cease to be the reserve currency of the world,’ Kerry said.

Currently, there are only four currencies that are counted by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as major reserve currencies that can be used in international transactions: The US dollar, the euro, the British pound and the Japanese yen.

However, the American dollar remains the dominant reserve currency throughout the world.

But financial analysts have often speculated that a competing currency like the euro or the Chinese yuan will eventually dethrone the dollar as financial patterns and global trade shift towards Asia.

“The complications that will grow out of it (rejecting the Iran accord) are enormous, and there will be an increase in this notion that there ought to be a different reserve currency because the United States is misbehaving and not in fact living by the agreements that it negotiates itself,” Kerry added.

If the deal is killed, then the America’s global status would be debilitated and its relations with Europe and allies across the world would be diluted.

The consequences of Congress stopping the deal would be harsh for the United States and chaotic for international order. Ultimately, it would put into question the ability of the United States to lead the reshaping of the world order on Western terms, by alienating Washington’s European allies.

Former top nuclear negotiator of Iran Hossein Mousavian believes rejecting the Iran nuclear deal by US Congress would eliminate the prospect for greater US-Iran cooperation in the region on areas of mutual concern.

‘This roughly 100-page agreement, meticulously crafted by the indefatigable diplomats of Iran and the P5+1, not only averts another catastrophic war in the world’s most volatile region, but sets new non-proliferation standards that can be applied throughout the world,’ Mousavian said.

The former Iranian diplomat emphasized that members of Congress should be cognizant of the significance of this deal and resist pressure to quash it from special interests groups that benefit from never-ending hostility between the United States and Iran.

‘Arguably the most tragic consequence of Congress killing the deal would be that it would eliminate the prospect for greater US-Iran cooperation in the region on areas of mutual concern. It would lock in continued enmity between the United States and Iran, serving only to exacerbate tension and conflict across the Middle East. To go down this path when such a mutually advantageous alternative exists would truly be a blunder of historic proportions,’ he added.

‘Rejecting the Iran nuclear deal would lead to diplomatic isolation for the United States and significantly undermine Washington’s ability to achieve other foreign policy goals,’ the US envoy to the United Nations Samantha Power said, adding that rejecting the agreement would hurt the United States more than it hurts Tehran.

Power believes: ‘If the United States rejects this deal, we would instantly isolate ourselves from the countries that spent nearly two years working with American negotiators to hammer out its toughest provisions.’

Critics of the deal in Washington have accused the Obama administration of giving Iran too much in exchange for too little. The Obama administration, however, has said that support for continued sanctions was waning and this was the best agreement that could be obtained.

Meanwhile, Carly Fiorina US Republican’s nominee for 2016 presidential election reaffirmed that regardless of what Congress decides, ‘the rest of the world has moved on’ with implementation of Iran-P5+1 nuclear deal.
‘Even if Congress votes this deal down, the rest of the world has moved on in terms of the money flow,’ she added.

Obama has recently said that he is confident that the nuclear agreement between Iran and the world powers will go forward despite lawmakers’ opposition in Congress.

Most Republicans have opposed the agreement. Despite the opposition, however, political analysts do not believe there will be enough votes to override Obama’s veto of a congressional resolution against the deal.

In case the American Congress votes against the nuclear deal, this would have adverse effect on political and economic situation in the United States and could put the country at odds with its European allies and other states worldwide.