Frelinghuysen: Deal is ‘major victory for Iran’

Count Reps. Rodney Frelinghuysen and Leonard Lance among the Republican leadership in Washington who are skeptical about the deal announced Tuesday between Iran and other world powers to curb Iranian nuclear programs.

The historic accord, aimed at easing the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran hanging over the volatile Middle East — and reached after long, fractious negotiations — marks a dramatic break from decades of animosity between the United States and Iran, countries that have called each other the “leading state sponsor of terrorism” and “the Great Satan.”

In exchange, Iran will get billions of dollars in relief from crushing international sanctions.

“This deal offers an opportunity to move in a new direction,” President Barack Obama declared at the White House in remarks that were carried live on Iranian state television. “We should seize it.”

But Frelinghysen and Lance, who represent Morris County on Capitol Hill, say the Iranians got the better end of the deal.

“The Iranian agreement appears to be a major victory for Iran, the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism and a regime with American blood on its hands,” said Frelinghuysen, who chairs the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense. “However, I fear as we examine the details, we will uncover multiple concessions that serve purely Iranian political, economic and military goals, not ours. I will fight any agreement that further jeopardizes U.S. national security and Middle East stability.”

“The paramount goal of a nuclear agreement with Iran is to prevent a state-sponsor of terror from attaining nuclear weapons. The agreement the president announced today appears to make no such guarantee,” Lance said. “In fact, the proposed deal awards Iran billions of U.S. dollars in sanctions relief without ensuring the permanent dismantling of its existing nuclear infrastructure or the promise of ‘anytime, anywhere’ inspections. Tough sanctions brought the Iranian leaders to the table, kept them there and will hold them accountable. Removing sanctions without lasting results achieves nothing.”

“Thank goodness the House and Senate have the legal right to review the plan for the next 60 days,” Frelinghuysen added.

Lance said he will join Frelinghuysen in that scrutiny.

“In the upcoming weeks, I will work with my colleagues in Congress to examine the provisions of this agreement thoroughly and consider whether it meets the thresholds necessary to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons,” Lance said. “I will oppose any agreement that jeopardizes the safety of the American people, our allies and our national security interests around the world.”

Terhan, Washington react

In Tehran, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “a new chapter” had begun in his nation’s relations with the world. He maintained that Iran had never sought to build a bomb, an assertion the U.S. and its partners have long disputed.

Beyond the hopeful proclamations from the U.S., Iran and other parties to the talks, there is deep skepticism of the deal among other U.S. lawmakers and Iranian hardliners. Obama’s most pressing task will be holding off efforts by Congress to levy new sanctions on Iran or block his ability to suspend existing ones.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, predicted the deal would embolden Iran and fuel a nuclear arms race around the world. It will be difficult for congressional Republicans to stop Obama, however, because of his power to veto legislation.

Iran also stands to receive more than $100 billion in assets that have been frozen overseas, and an end to a European oil embargo and various financial restrictions on Iranian banks.

The nearly 100-page accord announced Tuesday aims to keep Iran from producing enough material for an atomic weapon for at least 10 years and imposes new provisions for inspections of Iranian facilities, including military sites.

The deal was finalized after more than two weeks of furious diplomacy in Vienna. Negotiators blew through three self-imposed deadlines, with top American and Iranian diplomats both threatening at points to walk away from the talks.

Secretary of State John Kerry, who did most of the bargaining with Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, said persistence paid off. “Believe me, had we been willing to settle for a lesser deal we would have finished this negation a long time ago,” he told reporters.

The breakthrough came after several key compromises.

Iran agreed to the continuation of a U.N. arms embargo on the country for up to five more years, though it could end earlier if the International Atomic Energy Agency definitively clears Iran of any current work on nuclear weapons. A similar condition was put on U.N. restrictions on the transfer of ballistic missile technology to Tehran, which could last for up to eight more years, according to diplomats.

Washington had sought to maintain the ban on Iran importing and exporting weapons, concerned that an Islamic Republic flush with cash from sanctions relief would expand its military assistance for Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government, Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah and other forces opposing America’s Mideast allies such as Saudi Arabia and Israel.

Iranian leaders, backed by Russia and China, insisted the embargo had to end as their forces combat regional scourges such as the Islamic State.

Another significant agreement will allow U.N. inspectors to press for visits to Iranian military sites as part of their monitoring duties, something the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, had long vowed to oppose. However, access isn’t guaranteed and could be delayed, a condition that critics of the deal are sure to seize on.

Under the accord, Tehran would have the right to challenge U.N requests, and an arbitration board composed of Iran and the six world powers would then decide on the issue. The IAEA also wants the access to complete its long-stymied investigation of past weapons work by Iran. The U.S. says Iranian cooperation is needed for all economic sanctions to be lifted.

The deal comes after nearly a decade of international, intercontinental diplomacy that until recently was defined by failure. Breaks in the talks sometimes lasted for months, and Iran’s nascent nuclear program expanded into one that Western intelligence agencies saw as only a couple of months away from weapons capacity. The U.S. and Israel both threatened possible military responses.

The United States joined the negotiations in 2008, and U.S. and Iranian officials met together secretly four years later in Oman to see if diplomatic progress was possible. But the process remained essentially stalemated until summer 2013, when Rouhani was elected president and declared his country ready for serious compromise.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Staff Writer William Westhoven: 973-428-6627; wwesthoven@GannettNJ.com.