Iran’s supreme leader said Thursday that an open letter from 47 Republican senators warning that the next U.S. president may not honor any nuclear deal reached with the Obama administration was a sign of the collapse of ethics in America’s political system.
“Of course, I’m concerned because the other side is into deception, trickery and backstabbing,” AyatollahAli Khamenei said in a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, a group of Shiite clerics who oversee his work in Iran’s theocratic political system, and its new chairman,hardliner Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi.
“American senators officially announced the commitment will be null and void after this government leaves office. Isn’t this the ultimate degree of the collapse of political ethics and the U.S. system’s internal disintegration?” Khamenei asked.
“Every time we reach a stage where the end of the negotiations is in sight, the tone of the other side, specifically the Americans, becomes harsher, coarser and tougher. This is the nature of their tricks and deceptions.”
The letter, circulated by freshman Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, is the latest sign of congressional frustration with the Obama administration’s strategy in dealing with Iran. Though Democrats denounced it as a partisan move, its release has not stopped them from cooperating with Republicans in trying to force President Obama to submit any potential deal to Congress for approval, something he has refused to do.
Talks between Iran and the “P5+1” countries — the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China — are set to resume Sunday in Switzerland ahead of a self-imposed March 24 deadline for at least the framework of an agreement designed to replace a November 2013 interim deal that was only supposed to last six months.
That deadline has taken on major political importance in Washington as the talks drag on. Lawmakers have tied a vote on legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran to the March progress. The sanctions, if enacted, would kick in if the July 1 deadline for signing of the final deal passes without agreement.
