News / Interviews

GOP using Iran to undercut Obama’s authority on foreign policy: Analyst

Tuesday, 20 January 2015 5:25 AM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 20 January 2015 5:25 AM ]

Schechter believes the GOP strategy is “not just anti-Iranian, it’s really anti-democracy".

Iran is being used by the Republican lawmakers to “undercut” President Barack Obama’s authority over foreign policy, says a political commentator.

“Obviously, Iran is being used by Republicans in the Congress as part of their battle with Obama, by posturing for more sanctions against Iran,” Danny Schechter, an editor of Mediachannel.org, told Press TV on Monday.

“Not only are they trying to undercut any potential agreement but they are also trying to reduce Obama’s authority over foreign policy,” he noted.

Republicans in the Congress have been pushing for more sanctions against Iran in the wake of ongoing talks between the Islamic Republic and P5+1 leaders (UK, France, the US, Russia, China, and Germany) over Iran’s peaceful nuclear program.

Obama has threatened to veto any upcoming sanctions from the Congress since he believes such measures will jeopardize the talks with Iran.

Republican senator Lindsey Graham said Sunday efforts aimed at imposing new sanctions on Iran will only be dropped should Obama send any agreement with Tehran to Congress for approval or disapproval.

Schechter believes the GOP strategy is “not just anti-Iranian, it’s really anti-democracy because, you know, the president is the one who is responsible for foreign policy and all the negotiations and discussions that are taking place could be supplanted by these new [anti-Iranian] measures.”

Schechter said such efforts by American lawmakers are not likely to succeed since there is an international will to reach an agreement with Iran.

“It’s not clear that it will prevail because there is a great deal of sentiment in the world, not just in the United States, to have some sort of agreement with Iran.”

“It seems as if there are some what we call hardheads in the Congress who will do anything they can to try to stop an agreement with Iran and to blame Obama of course in the process. So, it’s a no-win situation for him and he has got to stand up for his policy,” he opined.

AN/AT

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