On Iran: Congress, Please Step Aside

The Council on International Policy’s Navid Hassibi argues in the National Interest that Congress must work to be part of the solution when it comes to an Iran nuclear deal, not the problem.

Photo source: Matt Churchill/Flickr

[comment/analysis] While Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and High Representative Catherine Ashton gathered last week to kick-start a new round of negotiations between the so-called P5+1 and Iran in efforts to meet a looming November 24 deadline to reach a comprehensive nuclear agreement, one particular actor has been implicitly threatening to sabotage the entire process—the U.S. Congress. Considering Congress’s dismal approval ratings, and polls indicating that a large majority of Americans favor making a nuclear deal with Iran, Congress is hardly representing the majority of the American people on the issue of a nuclear deal with Iran and is towing a tough line seemingly intent on derailing any prospective breakthrough on the nuclear issue.

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