Kerry Criticizes Republican Letter to Iranian Leaders on Nuclear Talks
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Version 0 of 1. WASHINGTON — Secretary of State John Kerry sharply criticized a letter from Republican lawmakers to the leaders of Iran in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Wednesday, calling it misleading and irresponsible. “My reaction to the letter was utter disbelief,” said Mr. Kerry, who warned that the letter, signed by 47 Republican senators this week, could embolden Iranian hard-liners. That letter warned that any agreement on Iran’s nuclear program that was not approved by Congress would not be legally binding and could be modified by lawmakers or even revoked by a future president. The Obama administration has made it clear that it does not plan to seek congressional approval for the emerging nuclear accord, which is expected to last about 15 years and would remove economic sanctions in return for imposing constraints on Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Kerry, in his testimony, acknowledged that without a congressional vote the accord would not be “legally binding,” a main contention of the critics. But he said that there were many “executive agreements” in that category that were a “necessary tool of American foreign policy.” He said that the United States would still have a “capacity for enforcement” under a presumptive deal, apparently an allusion to the administration’s argument that it could quickly reimpose sanctions on Iran if it failed to uphold the accord. Dissecting the letter, Mr. Kerry said the authors were wrong when they said that Congress had the authority to modify the terms of an agreement negotiated by the president. He added that a future president would continue to honor the accord as long as Iran kept its part of the bargain and as long as the other negotiating partners — Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — continued to support it. “I’d like to see the next president, if all of those countries have said this is good and it’s working, turn around and just nullify it on behalf of the United States,” Mr. Kerry said sarcastically. “That’s not going to happen.” Senator Bob Corker, Republican of Tennessee and the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, who did not sign the letter, sought to turn the tables on Mr. Kerry by highlighting the White House’s refusal to seek a congressional vote on the agreement. “That’s a well-written speech,” Mr. Corker said dryly. “I’m very disappointed, though, that you’ve gone back on your statement that any agreement must pass muster with Congress. The way we pass muster here is we vote. And I think all of us are very disappointed with the veto threat and the stiff-arming that is taking place.” The exchange occurred during a hearing that had been called to focus on another subject, the congressional approval the White House is seeking for its military campaign against the Islamic State. |