Iran deal delay gives Israel lobby opportunity to pressure Congress: Analyst

Longer Congress review period of a possible nuclear deal with Iran will give the Israeli lobby more opportunity to put extensive pressure on every member of Congress, says former CIA contractor Steven Kelley.

“Most of Congress is in the pocket of the Israeli lobby, so certainly the AIPAC, etc will be putting extensive pressure upon every member of Congress and of course the delay naturally will give AIPAC and the Israeli lobby more time to do that,” Kelley told Press TV on Wednesday.

He made the remarks about concerns over an extra time that will be given to the US Congress to review a potential nuclear agreement with Iran after the talks were extended again and set to continue at least until Friday. Congress was set to receive a copy of the agreement for its review on July 9.

Congress would have had 30 days to examine the deal and pass a resolution of disapproval to block its implementation, but with talks passing that deadline, they will have 60 days.

“It’s the war hawks here -- Lindsey Graham, John McCain, etc, and even Hillary Clinton -- unfortunately the extra time will give them a little bit more opportunity to try to spread their hateful messages,“ said Kelley.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest, however, said there would be no problem for longer review period.

He said, “We welcome additional scrutiny of the deal, if one is reached.”

Kelley also asserted that President Barack Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry truly want “to make some sort of peace arrangement with Iran, so that they can focus their efforts on Russia which of course it’s their main opponent now because of the formation of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).”

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