A top US official, "noting the administration's warnings when the letter first surfaced, said the GOP intervention was a new issue in the tense negotiations facing an end-of-month deadline for a framework agreement."
The letter came up in nuclear talks Sunday between senior U.S. and Iranian negotiators, the official said, and the Iranians raised it again in discussions Monday led by Secretary of State John Kerry and Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.Kerry and the Iranian Zarif met for nearly five hours in Lausanne, the start of several planned days of discussions. Most of the Iranians then departed for Brussels, where they were to meet with European negotiators.
Zarif was quoted by Iranian state media after the meeting as saying the topics included the potential speed of a softening of U.S. economic sanctions and the new issue of the letter from the senators. "It is necessary that the stance of the U.S. administration be defined about this move," he was quoted as saying.
Cotton's letter, the administration and congressional Democrats argue, went further, interfering in the president's execution of U.S. foreign policy. The letter, styled as a U.S. civics lesson, warned Iranian leaders that any deal negotiated by the current administration could be tossed by Obama's successor.There is no truth to the rumor that Kerry has agreed to hang all 47 Senators to please the Iranians, but hey with this administration you never know.
Obama and other officials insist they're not going to make any deal that would allow Iran to acquire nuclear weapons [until he leaves office].
1 comment:
If the Iranians are unhappy about the Cotton letter that is all that is necessary to prove the value of sending it.
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