Deputy Secretary of State Anthony Blinken tried to reassure skeptical lawmakers on Thursday that any nuclear deal the Obama administration signs with Iran would prevent Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.
Blinken, accompanied by Adam Szubin, acting Treasury Department undersecretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, came to Capitol Hill as his boss, Secretary of State John Kerry, was in a fourth day of talks with Iranian officials aimed at closing the remaining gaps in the two countries’ positions.
“The negotiations have been substantive and intense,” Blinken told members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee. “We’ve made some progress on the core issues. Significant gaps remain on some of the other issues.”
Significant gaps also remain, however, between lawmakers’ concerns and the administration’s ability to soothe them, particularly as they relate to what role Congress would play in approving and implementing any deal.
Blinken, like a succession of other administration officials who have testified before Congress, warned lawmakers that any legislation to impose new sanctions on Iran, even if only triggered by a failure of the talks, would lead the U.S. to be blamed if there’s no agreement.
That “absolutely cannot and must not happen,” because it would be nearly impossible to convince U.S. partners in the talks to maintain sanctions, he said.
Blinken also warned lawmakers to avoid actions that put U.S. credibility at risk.
“Negotiating with a foreign nation is the president’s responsibility. If there’s confusion on this basic point, no foreign government will trust that when a president purports to speak for our country, he actually does,” he said.
But the administration’s refusal to submit any deal to Congress for approval is still a sticking point for most lawmakers of both parties, who remain concerned about whether the U.S. strategy in the talks depends too much on trusting Iran to keep its word.
“There really cannot be any marginalization of Congress … any attempts to sidestep Congress will be resisted on both sides of the aisle,” said Rep. Eliot Engel of New York, the foreign affairs panel’s ranking Democrat.
“Iran’s leaders don’t deserve an ounce of trust,” he added. “We need absolute safeguards.”
