Obama: GOP trying to ‘short-circuit’ Iran nuclear talks
US President Barack Obama has blasted Republican opponents of a potential agreement between the P5+1 and Iran over its nuclear program, saying they are attempting to “short-circuit” international negotiations.
“I don’t understand why everyone is working so hard to anticipate how we can fail,” Obama said on Saturday at the historic 35-nation Summit of the Americas in Panama City, Panama.
“My only question is why we’re trying to short-circuit our own negotiations,” he continued. “That’s not how we’re supposed to run foreign policy regardless of who is president or secretary of state.”
“It needs to stop,” he stressed.
Iran and the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – along with officials from the European Union reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program in the Swiss city of Lausanne on April 2.
The two sides will now start drafting a final accord, dubbed the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which is expected to come until the end of June.
If a final deal is reached, it would lift all international sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain steps Tehran will take with regard to its nuclear program.
"What I'm concerned about is making sure we don't prejudge it or those who are opposed to any deal whatsoever try to use a procedural argument essentially to screw up the possibility of a deal," Obama said.
Obama also condemned Republican senators for writing an open letter to Iran, saying their inappropriate gesture increased distrust between Washington and Tehran.
A group of 47 Republican senators sent an open letter to Iran’s leaders last month, warning that whatever agreement reached with the Obama administration would be a “mere executive agreement” and that Congress could ultimately walk away from any deal with Tehran upon review.
The White House has denounced the GOP letter as an “unprecedented” and “calculated” attempt to interfere with the Iran nuclear talks.
Tom Cotton, the freshman Republican senator from Arkansas, claimed that he had drafted the letter. However, independent analysts say the letter was essentially written by William Kristol, his main financier.
Kristol is the head of the Emergency Committee for Israel, a neoconservative group associated with Israel lobby.
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