US lawmakers seek to derail Iran nuclear deal: Analyst

Press TV has interviewed Nader Bagherzadeh, a political analyst in California, about the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee pushing for fresh sanctions against Iran over what senators described as Tehran’s aggressive non-nuclear activities.

The following is a rough transcription of the interview.

Press TV: Despite the fact that Obama has promised to veto this legislation, how many vetoes after vetoes can we see taking place if US lawmakers continue to target this deal?

Bagherzadeh: This will be the last one. Regarding the Obamacare we have seen I think 30 or 40 of these legislation effects and acts by the Congress and Mr. Obama always said that he would veto that particular case. In this case he has said as such as you mentioned earlier and they are going to continue to do this probably throughout 2016.

So I would not be surprised if there would be more of these. My only concern is if a Republican President comes to the White House, what they would do one year from now because if they have the both Houses, they have the House and the Senate and the White House, then anything goes judging from what we have heard from the Republican candidates.  

Press TV: Speaking of that, if another president that comes into office is a Republican, what of this deal? Is it that fragile?  

Bagherzadeh: Yes I think so, judging from what they have said. If you look at the top runners – Trump, Cruz and Rubio – they all have been against this and they have said as much as they would disregard it, one of them said that. Trump said it was a bad agreement and I think one of them said he will burn it the first day in the office in the White House.

So next year is fine because Mr. Obama will stop any legislation effort to add additional sanctions related to the nuclear issues but after January of 2017, if a Republican comes to the White House it is not quite sure what is going to happen. Maybe it is rhetoric for the election and they will not do anything, that is possible, but if they do what they have said then it would be not reasonable to assume that this will continue - this agreement.

Press TV: Of course right now we did see President Hassan Rouhani go on his two-nation tour to Europe, the deals are flooding in, a lot of companies as well as countries are trying to capitalize on Iran opening up now to the rest of the world. Don’t you think the US lawmakers see that opportunity?

Bagherzadeh: Yes unfortunately sometimes they do not see that the global efforts towards engaging with Iran is the way to go at this point given all the things that have happened over the past year and a half. It is unfortunate but they have plans to undermine, derail what Mr. Obama has done.

As I mentioned this is not the only situation. They have had the same thing regarding Obamacare, regarding immigration laws and gun control and so on and on and on. So I would not be surprised if they continue their objection even if the Europeans are moving forward and many of the sanctions to do with United States are in place. So overall, I do not think the [interaction] with Iran on economic basis with United States will improve as much as with the Europeans of course.

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