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Corker and Congress’ Clumsy Meddling on Iran

Iran hawks in Congress have interfered enough to strengthen the hand of Iran's negotiators in the final stages of the talks.
Bob_Corker_in_Franklin

Bob Corker is annoyed that the administration is responding to the incentives created by his own unnecessary piece of legislation on Iran:

The U.S. shouldn’t rush to finish a nuclear deal with Iran simply to meet a deadline that would allow a shorter congressional review period, said Senator Bob Corker, chairman of a committee that will be pivotal in deciding an agreement’s fate in Congress.

Corker’s complaint drives home how useless and tiresome Congressional meddling in the Iran negotiations has been. Corker agreed to a thirty-day review period if the text of an agreement was presented to Congress by July 9. That was part of the compromise crafted to ensure that Congress would have a role in the process. Congress didn’t need to involve itself at this stage, but it did it anyway. The deadlines were set with the goal of curtailing the negotiations, but now that this could lead to the production of a final agreement that they were never going to support the Iran hawks don’t want the negotiations to conclude.

Iran hawks believed at the time that the prospect of a longer review period for a deal reached after July 9 would put greater pressure on Iran’s negotiators to make more concessions. Now that it has become clear that their meddling backfired and has put more pressure on the P5+1 to wrap things up quickly, the same people don’t want the negotiators to “rush” into anything. Iran hawks in Congress have contributed nothing of value to the negotiations, but they have interfered enough to strengthen the hand of Iran’s negotiators in the final stages of the talks.

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