by Boaz Bismuth, Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham: Senate has right and duty to examine any nuclear deal reached with Iran • Graham: Majority of senators in both parties oppose a deal that would permit Iran to enrich uranium.
Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
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Photo credit: Lior Mizrahi  |
The U.S. Senate has the right and duty to
examine any nuclear deal reached with Iran, Republican Senator Lindsey
Graham, of South Carolina, told Israel Hayom. Graham vowed that the
Senate would block a "bad deal" with Iran.
In Graham's view, any agreement that permits Iran to enrich uranium would constitute a "bad deal" unacceptable to the Senate.
"Today, there are new bosses in Washington,"
Graham, who was reelected to a third term in the Senate on Tuesday,
said. "The biggest losers, after the midterm elections, are Hamas,
Hezbollah and the Iranian nuclear program."
Graham said he intends to submit a bill in
January to the new Senate majority leader, expected to be Kentucky
Senator Mitch McConnell, that would require President Barack Obama to
allow the Senate to review any agreement with Iran on the nuclear issue.
"With Iran, we do not want to end up getting
the same result we got with North Korea, which ultimately, despite the
negotiations and the agreements, became a nuclear power," Graham said.
"It is very important that the Senate examine the agreement [with Iran].
Today, a majority of senators from both parties oppose the idea that
Iran will enrich uranium."
So what agreement would you accept?
"If the agreement is good for the U.S., Israel
and other U.S. partners and if it protects the national security of the
U.S. -- then we will support it. However, if the agreement is bad, then
we will oppose it, and I will personally make sure it does not pass."
But The New York Times revealed before the midterm elections that Obama plans to bypass Congress on the Iran nuclear issue.
"The U.S. Senate has not only the right, but
also the duty, to examine the agreement. It is Congress which voted for
the sanctions against Iran and it is Congress which is supposed to
cancel them, if needed. I find it strange that the president said it was
necessary to go to Congress regarding action in Syria and Iraq, but
does not need Congress in the case of an agreement with Iran. I assure
you that the Senate intends to engage in a tough fight to bring the
agreement before us. The regime of the ayatollahs is the big loser of
the midterm elections."
Regarding the dangers that would be posed by a
bad nuclear agreement with Iran, Graham said, "One must understand that
a bad deal with Iran could change the face of the world. I don't think
there is a single Israel who could sleep well at night knowing that Iran
is capable of developing a nuclear bomb."
Graham also expressed concern that the Obama
administration views a nuclear agreement with Iran as a potential legacy
achievement.
Graham, a member of the Senate Committee on
Appropriations, said he recently told the U.N. secretary-general that
the U.S. would halt funding for the U.N. Human Rights Council, given
that the body's sole purpose is to isolate Israel. "I don't think
American taxpayers want to help [the Human Rights Council] with this
agenda," Graham said.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State
John Kerry met in Muscat, Oman with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad
Javad Zarif and former EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton (the
representative of the six world powers negotiating with Iran) in a bid
to make progress in the negotiations ahead of the Nov. 24 deadline for a
final nuclear agreement.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Friday that a "bad deal" with Iran "would endanger the entire world."
"Better no deal than a bad deal that leaves Iran with a capacity to enrich uranium for a nuclear bomb," Netanyahu said.
Regarding the Islamic State group, Netanyahu
said, "I think the battle against ISIS should not come at the expense of
the efforts to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. Both of
them should be pursued independently and not linked to one another."
In Iran over the weekend, it was anti-Israel
vitriol as usual. Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeted,
"This barbaric, wolflike & infanticidal regime of #Israel which
spares no crime has no cure but to be annihilated."
Boaz Bismuth, Eli Leon, Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=21313
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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