Former diplomat Ali Khorram says if US President Barack Obama fails to strike a nuclear deal with Iran by the November 24 target date, an extension of the talks would not be to his benefit, with Republicans taking control of the Senate in the midterm elections.
Khorram said, "With Republicans winning the majority of the Senate seats, the Obama administration will be having a difficult time" and may not be able to proceed easily in the nuclear talks with Iran "because they have to deal with radical forces in the Senate," so the US president should seize the current opportunity to clinch a nuclear accord with Iran. Republicans won control of the Senate in the US midterm elections on Tuesday for the first time in eight years and in the final two years of Obama's presidency.
"With Democrats losing their majority in the Senate, the White House may no longer have the opportunity to adopt what it has called 'flexibility' in the talks," Khorram told IRNA on Wednesday.
In an opinion piece which appeared on the website of the Washington Post on Tuesday entitled "Iran policy can change after the midterms," Jennifer Rubin also said the outcome of the midterm elections could impact “the tension between the administration’s conciliatory approach to Iran and its efforts to deny Congress a voice in nuclear diplomacy."
Rubin believes with the increasing power of Republicans in the Senate, they can "avoid being forced into an unacceptable deal," and thus pressure the administration to take its role into consideration.
The Obama administration has indicated that it might be seeking to avoid the US congress by using its executive authority to roll back anti-Iran economic sanctions unilaterally, without lawmakers’ approval. Reports about such a plan last month outraged US lawmakers and forced the administration to promptly deny them.
According to the writer, Republicans may now be considering imposing new sanctions on Iran or even contemplating to revoke a possible deal that may be reached in November after the end of Obama’s term.
