In return, the international community lifted severe sanctions that had hurt ordinary Iranians. Iran is coming out of isolation to take its rightful place among the world’s nations, re-establishing trade and business ties. Diplomacy can accomplish miracles given time, patience, and good will.

A Vatican statement speaks of “the important role that Iran is called upon to fulfill in promoting peaceful solutions in Middle Eastern conflicts and countering the spread of terrorism and arms trafficking.” 250,000 civilian deaths have occurred in the Syrian conflict.  Talks in London are scheduled to bring relief to the suffering population.

Pope Francis sees the Iran nuclear deal as “giving hope for the future.” Pope Francis and President Rouhani discussed “the importance of inter-religious dialogue and the responsibility of religious communities in promoting reconciliation, tolerance, and peace.”

The visit ended with Pope Francis thanking President Rouhani and saying, “I hope for peace.” President Rouhani replied by asking Pope Francis to pray for him.

The nuclear deal faces a September vote in Congress. If there were a veto-proof majority in Congress for a resolution of disapproval, the deal would be dead and the United States would be barred from complying with the terms we just negotiated.

A senior German official, Philipp Ackermann, recently said that it would be a catastrophe for Congress to kill the deal. Other nations would not go back to sanctions, while “The chance of Iran going back to the negotiating table would be effectively zero.” Iran would be free from the deal’s rigorous nuclear terms. In short, we would be in a crisis leading to war. Yet bombing would only drive Iran’s nuclear program underground and convince Iran it must have a nuclear deterrent.

Indiana Senator Dan Coats opposes the agreement, while Senator Joe Donnelly, long considered a swing vote, has announced his support, as have former Senator and Foreign Relations Committee chair Richard Lugar and former Congressman Lee Hamilton. Senator Donnelly is to be commended for a courageous decision.

Sources:

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/08/08/world/document-iranletteraug2015.html

https://twitter.com/TheIranDeal

https://www.irandealfacts.org/

https://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/iran-deal-german-philipp-ackermann-response-121100.html

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu demands that Congress kill the agreement and increase sanctions. Mr. Netanyahu claims the alternative to this “bad” deal is not war but “a better deal.”
Republicans, and Democrats such as Indiana’s Senator Joe Donnelly, are supporting a bill that – even after revisions — recklessly endangers the agreement.

Some of the best informed Israelis, however, acknowledge that diplomacy is achieving what war cannot. Ron Ben-Yishai, the senior military analyst for Israel’s most mainstream newspaper, Yedioth Aharonot, wrote: “We could not have achieved a better outcome even if Israel, the United States, and other countries had carried out military strikes on the nuclear sites in Iran.”

If the U.S. and Israel reject the concessions that Iran has made, other powers would resume business with Iran – without the limits that the deal provides. The pressure for a U.S. or Israeli strike would grow.

Bombing could set back Iran’s program at most five years; the negotiated agreement lasts ten. Even repeated bombing would make Iran more, not less likely, to build a nuclear weapon deep underground to deter future attack.

Citizens should encourage Senators to withstand the pressures of right wing billionaires and instead support diplomacy. Senator Donnelly, as a moderate Democrat, is key.

Sources:

https://972mag.com/israel-media-survey-iran-deal-not-so-bad-after-all/105259/
https://972mag.com/netanyahu-resurrects-no-partner-excuse-for-iran-deal/105357/
https://belfercenter.ksg.harvard.edu/files/irannuclear-deal32015reduced.pdf
https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2015-02-11/Voting-Up-or-Down-on-an-Iran-Nuclear-Deal-Not-as-Easy-as-123

Yet hardliners in Congress are preparing a new sanctions bill. President Obama has vowed to veto it. Whether Congress reaches the two-thirds majority to override his veto depends on whether some Democrats – notably Indiana’s Senator Joe Donnelly – join the Republicans pushing this legislation.

Hawks claim that their bill would mean increased leverage, pushing Iran to make further concessions. But the bill is an ultimatum imposing increased sanctions if Iran does not accept what many experts believe are unnecessarily humiliating terms for a final agreement. The President and global diplomats believe the bill would instead lead Iran to break off negotiations. Iranian hardliners, who have also opposed negotiations, would be vindicated, and Iran would likely step up nuclear activities. That in turn would set the stage for Israel to attack Iran and unleash a new war in the Middle East, almost surely involving the United States.

The last thing the world needs is another war, which would increase the risks of global terrorism as well, ironically, as the chances Iran would actually build a bomb.

Sources:

https://www.armscontrol.org/issue-briefs/2015-01-15/Congress-Should-Support-Negotiations-Not-New-Iran-Sanctions

https://www.rollcall.com/news/let_the_diplomats_do_the_driving_with_iran_commentary-232362-1.html

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/politics/100000003454696/obama-urges-against-new-iran-sanctions.html

https://fcnl.org/issues/iran/israeli_us_security_experts_support_first_step_deal/

In his State of the Union speech, President Obama warned: “The sanctions that we put in place helped make this opportunity possible. But let me be clear: If this Congress sends me a new sanctions bill now that threatens to derail these talks, I will veto it.”

Yet Indiana’s Senators, Joe Donnelly and Dan Coats, are sponsoring just such a bill, the Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act (S.1881). It demands that Iran totally give up enriching uranium—a requirement that most arms control experts consider unnecessary and that Iranians reject as violating Iran’s right to civilian nuclear energy under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The bill also says that if Israel attacks Iran, the United States should provide military support, in effect delegating to a foreign leader the decision to take the U.S. to war.

Senators Donnelly and Coats received five-figure campaign contributions from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other hawkish groups. But J Street, the pro-Israel, pro-peace organization, strongly opposes this bill.

With a common adversary in al Qaeda, the United States and Iran need not be eternal enemies.

As President Obama said, “We must give diplomacy a chance to resolve one of the leading security challenges of our time without the risks of war.”

Sources

“A Step, if Modest, Toward Slowing Iran’s Weapons Capability” (NYT)

“Obama’s 2014 State of the Union address: Full text” (CBS News)

“Analysis of Faults in the Menendez-Kirk Iran Sanctions Bill (S. 1881)” (The Center For Arms Control and Non-Proliferation)

“Revealing Money’s Influence On Politics: Pro-Israel” (MapLight)