Controversy continues to rage over the open-letter by Republicans to Iran that threatens to undermine nuclear negotiations between Iran and the United States, Russia and China.
Organized by freshman Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR), the letter was signed by the entire party leadership in the chamber and by potential presidential candidates Marco Rubio, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and suggests to Iran that Republicans can undo whatever President Obama’s administration agrees to pursuant to those negotiations.
Bernie Sanders issued a press release stating that “[Iranian nuclear] negotiations must be allowed to continue and, hopefully, will succeed. It is an outrage that my Republican colleagues are trying to sabotage that effort.”
Christine Pelosi, Chair, CA Democratic Party Women’s Caucus, and daughter of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, warned Republicans that “Obama Derangement Syndrome is not a strategy: derailing the president’s multi-lateral path to peace in 2015 will not pave the Republican path to 1600 Pennsylvania in 2016.”
The Guardian reports that “the sharpest reaction to Monday’s open letter came from the White House. President Obama accused its 47 Republican signatories of ‘wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran’”.
Jamal Abdi, policy director of the National Iranian American Council, a Washington D.C. based “nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing the interests of the Iranian-American community” agrees with Pres. Obama.
Abdi told The Guardian that:
Even before these talks there was this symbiotic relationship between hardliners here and in Iran. The hawkish rhetoric by Iranians feeds the rhetoric of hawkish Republicans, and the front page of Kayhan [a conservative Iranian paper] reads like the ticker on Fox News. I think now you’re seeing an attempt at direct coordination, which is kind of amusing.
The Guardian concluded their report by noting:
As a political maneuver, Abdi said the letter could be an attempt by Republicans to make inroads among Jewish and pro-Israel voters who have historically voted for Democrats. That strategy has only yielded small successes over the years, but also allows Republicans to show their own vehement support for Israel to hawkish and narrow interests such as casino billionaire Sheldon Adelson, who has become a major political donor for the party.
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