Fallout Seen Worldwide From Republicans' Letter to Iran
by VOA News March 11, 2015
The fallout from the open letter sent by 47 Republican senators to Iran's leaders reverberated worldwide Wednesday from Washington to Tehran.
In Iran, Tehran's Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) criticized Republican Senator Tom Cotton's "insulting" address to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Cotton, from the state of Arkansas, authored the open letter to Iranian officials, criticizing U.S. President Barack Obama's attempts to reach a deal on nuclear power with the country.
IRNA accused Cotton of trying to "humiliate" Zarif by posting a Farsi version of his letter and by tweeting directly to Zarif: This is the translation of the letter if necessary.
'Now it is clear that Cotton does not know that the Iranian foreign minister has been a U.S. educated figure since young age and he knows English language and the U.S. power structure better than Cotton,' IRNA reported.
On Monday, Zarif's initial response was to describe the letter as a "publicity ploy" that "contradicts international law.'
And the Tehran Times reported that Zarif said the U.S. senators were "ignorant of international law."
P5+1 group
Foreign ministers involved in the P5+1 talks will meet Sunday in Switzerland as they try to reach a political framework for a nuclear deal with Iran by March 31.
Other members of the P5+1 group -- China, Russia, France, Britain and Germany -- were mostly silent in their reaction to news of the letter to Iran. There were no official statements regarding the letter.
In London, foreign Secretary Philip Hammond told members of parliament Tuesday that the Republican letter could throw "a spanner in the works" at the negotiations and will have an "unpredictable effect" on the government in Tehran.
The Guardian's Julian Border wondered if Republican intervention in Iran nuclear negotiations would confirm Iranian suspicions about the West and make it easier for Tehran to blame Washington if talks fail.
'The 'spanner' effect was on display in the Iranian capital where the hardline press splashed news of the letter across its front pages. The moderate media focused instead of Zarif's rebuke. But what really counts is the impact on one person, the Supreme Leader, Ali Khamenei. His judgment will be critical in determining whether there is an agreement at all, and he is famously suspicious of the West's motives towards Iran,' Border wrote.
In Israel, the Jerusalem Post wrote an editorial that said, "The subtext of the GOP letter to the Iranians is: Think twice before signing a deal with a lame-duck president."
Israel Hayom, a newspaper owned by Sheldon Adelson, an American billionaire who has supported several Republican presidential candidates, used wire and staff reports under the headline: Republicans warn Iran nuclear deal with Obama may not last.
Partisan politics
The injection of partisan politics into the Iran negotiations guarantees that it will be an issue during the 2016 presidential campaign.
Several senators who are considered possible presidential candidates -- Marco Rubio, Lindsey Graham, Ted Cruz and Rand Paul -- all co-signed the letter.
On Tuesday, two other possible contenders voiced their support for the letter: Republican Governors Bobby Jindal and Rick Perry.
Two other possible Republican contenders -- Governor Scott Walker and former Governor Jeb Bush -- each released statements saying that any Iranian nuclear agreement should receive congressional review, but neither admitted support for the letter.
Hillary Clinton, former Secretary of State and a likely Democratic presidential candidate, voiced her disapproval for the Republican senators' letter during a news conference Tuesday in which she addressed the controversy over her use of private emails.
'One has to ask, what was the purpose of this letter?' Clinton said. 'There appear to be two logical answers. Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians or harmful to the commander-in-chief in the midst of high-stakes international diplomacy. Either answer does discredit to the letters' signatories.'
On Wednesday, testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State John Kerry said lawmakers cannot modify any nuclear agreement struck between the United States and Iran despite threats by Republican senators that they can.
Kerry said he responded with "utter disbelief" at the letter that threatened to undo any nuclear agreement reached between Tehran and Washington, saying it threatened global trust in America. 'This risks undermining the confidence that foreign governments in thousands of important agreements commit to.
"It is incorrect when (the letter) says that Congress can actually modify the terms of an agreement at any time. That is flat wrong," he said.
Some material for this report came from Reuters, AFP and AP.
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