Saudi Arabia is spending millions of dollars to fund television commercials against the Iran nuclear agreement, a new report has revealed.
A newly established group, called the “American Security Initiative”, has flooded television stations across the US with $6 million of advertisements requesting Americans to call their senators and oppose the Vienna nuclear accord, The Intercept, an online news magazine, reported on Friday.
The Intercept report said the “American Security Initiative” is owned by former Republican Senator Norm Coleman, who is a registered lobbyist for Riyadh.
Coleman’s firm, Hogan Lovells, works for Saudi Arabia. He described his work as “providing legal services to the Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia” on issues including “legal and policy developments involving Iran and limiting Iranian nuclear capability.”
The advertising campaign is part of a propaganda war to convince American lawmakers to vote against the Iran nuclear agreement, which will remove economic sanctions against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain restrictions on its nuclear program.
The Republican-controlled Congress is reviewing the Iran nuclear accord and is likely to vote on it in September.
Most Republicans oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran, but they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override a possible presidential veto, and to reach that threshold, Republicans need Democratic support.
The Israel lobbying groups in the US, particularly the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), are already engaged in a massive effort to sink the Iran nuclear agreement in Congress.
Last month, AIPAC launched a group, called “Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran,” to convince members of Congress to reject the conclusion of nuclear talks reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in Vienna on July 14.
The group has raised at least $25 million which is being spent on television commercials and other stuff to spread negative propaganda against the agreement.
According to reports, AIPAC, and other pro-Israel groups, such as the Zionist Organization of America and the Emergency Committee for Israel, as well as wealthy Jewish businessmen, like Casino mogul Sheldon Adelson and his wife, Miriam, have committed about $100 million to sabotage the Iran nuclear accord.