Moniz worried about US Congress opposition to Iran agreement
US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, the Obama administration’s top negotiator on the Iran nuclear agreement, has said what worries him the most is congressional opposition.
“If this agreement is undermined by the Congress, the discussion about the day after is not very pretty,” Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said in remarks at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs on Friday. “So to be honest, I think that’s really what keeps me up at night.”
Iran and the P5+1 group of countries – the US, Britain, Russia, China, France, and Germany – finally succeeded in finalizing the text of the Join Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in Vienna on July 14.
The accord faced strong oppositions from Republican lawmakers, who are mostly under the influence of the Israel lobby in the US.
Moniz, who has previously called the agreement a “very powerful” one, has repeatedly warned Republicans and others who try to impede the progress.
On Friday, he said the consequences of congressional opposition to it would only make the US more isolated and Iran more powerful.
“We will be presumably quite isolated and it’s already been made clear that there will not be a renegotiation” of the deal, Moniz said. “Frankly, it puts Iran in a greater position of strength as one that has come to the table and negotiated an agreement.”
Meanwhile, Secretary of State John Kerry has said that the failure of the agreement would lead to war.
Kerry said on Friday that rejecting the accord "will lead people to put pressure on military action, since the United States would have walked away from the diplomatic solution."
Congress is expected to vote on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in September. The JCPOA requires that Iran be recognized by the United Nations as a nuclear power and will continue its uranium enrichment program.
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