30
Jan
2015

UPDATES: P5+1 Iran Nuclear Negotiations Resource Center

January 30, 2014, Washington, D.C. – Like much of the world, Iranian Americans have followed the Iran nuclear negotiations and ensuing developments with great interest. The PAAIA Public Policy Center is pleased to provide a resource page that provides easily accessible information about the ongoing nuclear negotiations between Iran and the members of the P5+1 (U.S., U.K., France, Russia, China, and Germany). 

The resource page includes a compilation of information provided by the U.S. government on the negotiations as well as viewpoints from members of Congress, editorials from leading news sources, and analyses from foreign policy and national security experts. 

While PAAIA supports efforts to pursue a diplomatic resolution to the decade-long stalemate over Iran’s nuclear program, we recognize the importance of ensuring that Iranian Americans are well-informed and aware of the positions held by their elected officials and others related to this matter. 

Set forth below is a collection of the most recent updates to the P5+1 Iran Nuclear Negotiations Resource Center.

 **The views expressed in these articles are solely the views of author or the interviewee, and should not be attributed to the views of PAAIA.**

 

Statements made by Current and Former Administration Officials and P5+1 Partners

 

January 21, 2015 

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made the following statement:

“If we’re the reason — through our Congress — that in effect gives Iran and others the excuse not to continue the negotiations, that would be, in my view, a very serious strategic error.” 

Click here to continue reading. 

 

Treasury Department Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial IntelligenceDavid Cohen, made the following statement:

“We believe that new sanctions are not needed at this time. To the contrary, new sanctions at this time, even with a delayed trigger, are more likely to undermine, rather than enhance, the chances of achieving a comprehensive agreement.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

French Foreign Minster Laurent Fabius, British Foreign Secretary Philip Hammond, German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, and EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini made the following statement:

“Maintaining pressure on Iran through our existing sanctions is essential. But introducing new hurdles at this critical stage of the negotiations, including through additional nuclear-related sanctions legislation on Iran, would jeopardize our efforts at a critical juncture.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

January 20, 2015 – 

U.S. President Barack Obama made the following statement:

“There are no guarantees that negotiations will succeed, and I keep all options on the table to prevent a nuclear Iran.  But new sanctions passed by this Congress, at this moment in time, will all but guarantee that diplomacy fails – alienating America from its allies and ensuring that Iran starts up its nuclear program again. It doesn’t make sense.” 

Click here to continue reading. 

 

Congressional Reactions to Trigger-Sanctions

January 29, 2015 –

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made the following statement:

“Congress should have the collective patience to wait until the end of June to see whether our negotiators can resolve the nuclear issue with Iran through diplomacy.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

U.S. Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) made the following statement: 

“The timing may be an issue, but I think, if the essence of the legislation is brought up at the right time, it would have broad bipartisan support, which I think is essential at the end of the day to send the world and to send Iran the messages that we have sent in the past so that as they calibrate their decision-making they understand that we are very closely unified in our goal.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) made the following statement:

“Sanctions are what got Iran to the table. If they don’t come to a strong deal that prevents a nuclear Iran, period, there will be additional sanctions by this body.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

U.S. Senator Richard Shelby (R-AL) made the following statement:

“Even the president has stated the odds of reaching a final agreement are not better than 50-50. I believe there is bipartisan consensus that more needs to be done to compel Iran to reach a final agreement.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

January 26, 2015 – 

U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) made the following statement:

“They’ve been negotiating for two years. This is the worst negotiation in the history of mankind.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) made the following statement:

“Enacting new sanctions before the end of the negotiating period would gravely undermine our efforts to reach an agreement with Iran.” 

Click here to continue reading. 

 

U.S. Senator Kristen Gillibrand (D-NY) made the following statement:

“The best solution is a strong diplomatic deal. The question is whether passing new sanctions now would help us get there. The President strongly believes it would gravely harm negotiations and therefore, I am willing to give him more time.” 

Click here to view the tweet. 

 

U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) made the following statement:

“I’m a big fan of trying to exert and trying the diplomatic option as long as we can. If it fails, I will vote to resume sanctions and I would vote to have new sanctions. But if you do it in the middle of negotiations, you’re ruining it.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

January 21, 2015 –

U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) released the following statement:

“We’re all here with the same goal: to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. I have a concern that reaches across party lines that some colleagues are pushing to enact new sanctions while our negotiators are still at the table.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA) made the following statement:

“I think Congress has to weigh in on a final deal. I support the JPOA and the negotiations… but the only lever in this negotiation is the congressionally imposed sanctions regime, so Congress must weigh in.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

January 20, 2015  

U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) made the following statement:

“I don’t know what the rush is. The administration is doing what it needs to do in negotiations.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

U.S. Representative Ted Deutch (D-FL-21) released the following statement: 

“I also reject the premise that negotiations over Iran’s nuclear weapons program would be derailed by Congress passing carefully-crafted sanctions that only take effect if the regime fails to live up to its international obligations. After all, it was sanctions that drove Iran to the negotiating table in the first place.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

 

U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) made the following statement:

“We have a responsibility to support the diplomatic negotiations and see them through. If they fail to achieve a deal, then we should consider sanctions and next steps, but we shouldn’t prejudge that outcome.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT) wrote the following statement on Twitter: 

“It would be foolish of Congress to impose new sanctions & risk giving #Iran an excuse to walk away from these critical talks.”

Click here to view the tweet. 

 

Editorials/Opeds

 

As the Iranian Nuclear Talks Drag On, Congress Must Act  Senator Tom Cotton: January 29, 2015

“A nuclear-capable Iran is the gravest threat facing America today. The Obama administration’s nuclear negotiations with Iran, the so-called P5+1 talks, were supposed to stop Iran’s rush to a nuclear bomb. Regrettably, what began as an unwise gamble has descended into a dangerous series of unending concessions, which is why the time has come for Congress to act.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

Why new sanctions against Iran would backfire  John Bradshaw and Amb. John Limbert: January 28, 2015

“Proposed legislation in the Senate that would impose additional “triggered” sanctions on Iran during ongoing nuclear talks relies on flawed logic and ignores Iranian history. The legislation would be more likely to blow up the negotiations than to achieve its stated goal of pushing Iran toward an agreement.  Some proponents of the legislation are explicit in hoping new sanctions will derail the talks, but others appear to believe in good faith that threatened sanctions will strengthen the position of the U.S. and its negotiating partners.  They claim that if sanctions brought Iran to the table, more sanctions will force them to agree to a nuclear deal.  Yet a clear-eyed look at past Iranian actions and the dynamics of negotiations shows that this is mere wishful thinking not grounded in a realistic assessment of likely outcomes.”

Click here to continue reading. 

 

Why new Iran sanctions bid has split Washington – Ali Vaez: January 28, 2015

“It is not every day that an American president threatens to veto sanctions on Iran, and it is rarer still for him to refuse a meeting with the Israeli prime minister. Yet that’s exactly what has transpired in recent weeks in Washington, as President Barack Obama warned that he will not tolerate what he sees as congressional plans to pull the rug out from under his diplomatic efforts to resolve the Iran nuclear standoff…”

Click here to continue reading.

 

It’s not time for Congress to play ‘bad cop’ on Iran – The LA Times Editorial Board: January 26, 2015

“Washington has been diverted in recent days by the drama created when House Republicans — without consulting the Obama administration — invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress next month on the subject of Iran’s nuclear program. Presumably he will repeat his warning that “the greatest danger facing humanity could soon be upon us: a militant Islamic regime armed with nuclear weapons.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

Sabotaging a Deal with Iran – Ellie Geranmayeh: January 25, 2015

“Threats by American lawmakers to impose further sanctions on Iran have already poisoned the spirit of the talks and created doubt among Iranians about whether the United States is able and willing to deliver on its promises. This has provoked hard-liners in Tehran to respond with their own threats that Iran would increase its enrichment capacity should new sanctions pass.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

Make the Choice Clear to Iran: No Deal Means Economic Collapse – Chicago Tribune Editorial Board: January 23, 2015

“President Barack Obama and his foreign policy team worry that the long and so-far-fruitless talks on Iran’s nuclear capabilities will collapse if Congress passes new, tougher economic sanctions on Tehran.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

Playing Politics on Iran – New York Times Editorial Board: January 23, 2015

“Mr. Obama laid out an approach to international engagement that includes shrinking America’s military commitments overseas and negotiating limits on Iran’s nuclear activities in return for a gradual lifting of sanctions. A move by Congress to pass legislation proposing new sanctions could blow up the talks and divide the major powers that have been united in pressuring Iran.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

An Iran Deal is nothing to Fear – Steve Chapman: January 23, 2015

“The bill’s purpose is to “strengthen the United States’ hand in negotiations in order to reach a peaceful, diplomatic solution to Iran’s nuclear ambitions,” claims the Bipartisan Policy Center. But it also serves the purposes of those people who run screaming from any realistic agreement with Iran.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

Give diplomacy with Iran a chance – Laurent Fabius, Philip Hammond, Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Federica Mogherini: January 21, 2015

“In this context, our responsibility is to make sure diplomacy is given the best possible chance to succeed. Maintaining pressure on Iran through our existing sanctions is essential. But introducing new hurdles at this critical stage of the negotiations, including through additional nuclear-related sanctions legislation on Iran, would jeopardize our efforts at a critical juncture.”

Click here to continue reading.

 

Cuba and Iran: A New Era for American Diplomacy? – William Luers and Thomas Pickering: January 20, 2015

“President Obama has taken charge of “trying something different” with Cuba and Iran by initiating discrete and patient diplomatic approaches with two of America’s most entrenched adversaries. He seeks to replace policies that have failed to achieve America’s objectives. The President has directly taken on the powerful yet waning domestic and Congressional opposition to changing the bankrupt strategies. “

Click here to continue reading.

 

Obama, Congress and Iran – Wall Street Journal: January 19, 2015

“If Iran does not fully meet its commitments during this six-month phase, we will turn off the [sanctions] relief and ratchet up the pressure.” That was President Obama in November 2013, pledging he would not allow an interim nuclear deal with Tehran to become an opportunity for the mullahs to play for time while wringing economic concessions from the West. “

Click here to continue reading.

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