August 21, 2022

The greatest obstacle to returning to the Iran deal isn’t Iran—it’s Congress

Since assuming office, President Biden has been attempting to negotiate a return to compliance with the Iran nuclear deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which President Trump walked away from in 2018. For months, press reports have signaled that a return to the deal was close at hand, and then not, and then close to happening again.

Leaving the JCPOA may have cost us the most precious commodity: time.

The opaqueness of the process, and uncertainty about what Tehran ultimately wants or can agree to, has fed skepticism about whether an agreement is forthcoming. Beyond the details of the deal being negotiated, it’s hard to imagine what lasting benefit there is for Iran in agreeing to return to a deal that has become so politicized in U.S. politics that any hypothetical Republican successor to Biden — who is currently polling around 40 percent approval — is likely to tear it up on day one of his or her presidency.

But if we suspend our disbelief that the negotiating teams can succeed in overcoming doubts and disagreements, what legally must follow in Washington further complicates a return to the deal: Congress gets a say. While the Obama administration was negotiating the original deal in 2015, Congress passed and the president signed into law the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA). The law gave Congress oversight of the JCPOA.

Read the full article from The Hill.

  • Commentary
    • The Hill
    • July 19, 2023
    Biden Needs to Deal with China’s Ever-Closer Ties to Iran

    Iran and China’s growing relationship is no longer a “what-if,” but a “what-do-we-do-now.”...

    By Arona Baigal & Kiana Alirezaie

  • Video
    • June 1, 2023
    Why U.S.-Iran Tensions Are On The Rise In The Persian Gulf

    Over the last decade, Iran has been causing more and more headaches for oil tanker operators in the Strait of Hormuz, a central artery of global trade. In the last two years a...

    By Arona Baigal

  • Reports
    • March 29, 2023
    Disarming the Bomb

    Negotiations to return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), known commonly as the Iran nuclear deal, reached an impasse this past year. Further, Iran made parall...

    By Jonathan Lord, Arona Baigal, Hunter Streling & LCDR Stewart Latwin

  • Commentary
    • The Washington Post
    • February 13, 2023
    The West Has Captured Thousands of Iranian Weapons. Send Them to Ukraine.

    Sending Iran’s weapons to Ukraine advances the mission in ways both tangible and symbolic. Washington should move without delay....

    By Jonathan Lord & Andrea Kendall-Taylor

View All Reports View All Articles & Multimedia