Nuclear deal with Iran divides American public opinion

A comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran by six world powers, including the United States of America, is likely to be derailed because of strong opposition from members of the Congress, including Democrat lawmakers, in spite of assurances given by President Barack Obama that Iran will allow international inspectors to inspect all its nuclear installations. A report by Associated Press from Vienna exploded like a bombshell, because it said that Iran will allow its own inspectors to investigate a site accused of developing nuclear arms under a secret agreement with International Atomic Energy Agency of the United Nations (IAEA). Iran's military installation at Parchin nuclear site is under constant attack by the US and Israel for a long time for secretly preparing bombs while Iranian authorities have persistently denied such allegations.  
This revelation by AP has raised vehement protests from Republican lawmakers while speaker of the House John Boehner said: President Obama boasts his deal includes unprecedented verification and claims it is not built on trust. But the administration's briefing on these side deals has been totally insufficient and it still is not clear whether anyone at the White House has seen the final document. Chairman of the house foreign relations committee Ed Royce is of the opinion that international inspection should be done by international inspection personnel. The Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, a multi-billionaire real-estate businessman, criticised Iran nuclear deal by saying it opens the gate for proliferation of nuclear competition in the Middle East while second-ranking senator of the Republican Party, John Cornyn, said trusting Iran to inspect its own nuclear site and report to the UN in an open and transparent way is remarkably naïve and incredibly reckless. This revelation only reinforces the deep rooted concerns the American people have about the agreement.
There are doubts about the authenticity of AP report, because AP representative saw the draft report of IAEA, not the final report. Olli Heinonen, former Deputy Director-General of IAEA who was involved in probing Iran's nuclear proliferation from 2005-2010, has expressed doubts about any such concession IAEA has made to any other country. Chief of IAEA Yukiya Amano has briefed Republican senators last week that he was under obligation to keep the document confidential. In a rebuttal, a spokesperson of the National Security council of Obama administration, Ned Price said on August 19, "the Obama administration was confident in the agency's technical plans for investigating the possible military site of Iran's former programme. The IAEA has separately developed the most robust inspection regime ever peacefully."
On the other hand, a group of about 40 lawmakers, both from the Republican and Democratic parties, has had briefing from leaders of Israel on Iran nuclear deal. This episode speaks of influence that the Israeli leaders have on the lawmakers of the USA. A pro-Israeli lobby has financed their trips to Israel.
Having seen the activities of the Republican lawmakers and some Democrats as well, a group of activists and peace organisations including MOVE on Democracy for America and Win Without War, are preparing to organise a huge National Day of Action in front of the Congress on August 26 to oppose war with Iran, because Americans are tired of war. While majority Americans, including a section of Jewish community, supports the Iran nuclear deal, special interest groups want to see diplomacy fail. These people are pouring tens of millions of dollars to put pressure on members of the Congress who are prospective candidates in the elections of 2016.
In September, American Congressmen will meet and vote on the comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran. Democrats in the Senate will play a crucial role in passing or defeating the resolution on  the deal. As of now, 26 Senators from the Democratic party have consented to cast vote in favour of the deal while 18 Senators remain non-committal. Since President Obama is committed to veto, if the Congress passes a resolution against the deal, the opponents would need a two-third majority to override presidential veto. In an interview with Fareed Zakaria on his talk show on CNN on August 09, Obama defended the nuclear deal with Iran in a positive vein. Allegations raised in America by some reflect the views of hardliners in Iran on the deal, added the President. According to one report, as of now 28 Democrat Senators have agreed to vote in favour of the deal, while two Senators from Democratic Party already committed to cast negative vote. Sixteen Democratic senators are still uncommitted. All the 54 Republican senators are prepared to cast negative vote in mid-September, but to clear a procedural hurdle the Republican needs at least six Democratic senators on their side to override Presidential veto. By now more than 40 lawmakers from America have visited Israel to be briefed by Israeli leaders on nuclear deal.
With such a scenario in sight, another piece of news coming from Israel relating to targeting Iranian nuclear facilities, has caused serious concerns. The Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act of 2013 was introduced by bi-partisan group of 26 senators of America, which calls for America's diplomacy, military and economic support to Israel if Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu decides to launch a pre-emptive strike against Iran's nuclear facilities. Israeli Prime Minister is due to visit UK in September to brief UK administration against the deal with Iran.
All this puts Obama in a delicate situation. The comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran is one of the legacies of his presidency.

The writer is a retired diplomat from Bangladesh.
amjad.21@gmail.com