Skip to footer

Obama: Successful Cold War diplomacy helped build Iran nuclear deal

The president's address Wednesday was part of an intense summer lobbying campaign by both supporters and opponents of the nuclear deal.

|
Susan Walsh/AP
President Barack Obama speaks about the nuclear deal with Iran, Wednesday, Aug. 5, 2015, at American University in Washington. The president said the nuclear deal with Iran builds on the tradition of strong diplomacy that won the Cold War without firing any shots.
  • By Julie Pace Associated Press

| Washington

President Obama launched a blistering denunciation of opposition to his Iran deal Wednesday, arguing that none of the criticism stands up to scrutiny and warning that if Congress blocks the accord it will put the US on the path to another Middle East war.

"The choice we face is ultimately between diplomacy and some form of war," Obama said in an address at American University. "Maybe not tomorrow, maybe not three months from now, but soon."

Seeking to isolate his critics, Obama said the rest of the world supports the Iran accord, with the notable exception of Israel. He reaffirmed his support for Israel's security and said he doesn't doubt the sincerity of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the fiercest opponents of the agreement.

But he said of Netanyahu, "I believe he is wrong."

The president's address was part of an intense summer lobbying campaign by both supporters and opponents of the nuclear deal. Members of Congress will vote next month on a resolution either approving or disapproving the pact.

Obama drew on history to bolster support, saying the accord builds on an American tradition of "strong, principled diplomacy" with adversaries, including the former Soviet Union. He spoke at the same university where John F. Kennedy called for Cold War diplomacy and nuclear disarmament.

Recalling more recent American history, Obama cast the upcoming vote in Congress as the nation's most consequential foreign policy debate since the 2002 vote to authorize the Iraq war. He said many of those who oppose the Iran pact are the same as those who pushed for the war, which is now known to have been based on flawed intelligence.

While Obama was an early opponent of the Iraq war, several of his top foreign policy advisers voted for the 2002 authorization, including Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State John Kerry and former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination. They now say the war was a mistake.

The agreement between the US, Iran and international powers aims to dismantle much of Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in relief from economic sanctions. The White House says the deal would cut off all of Iran's pathways to a bomb and mandate robust inspections that would catch Tehran if it cheats.

Challenging those who say the US should have layered tougher sanctions on Tehran and held out for a better deal, Obama said they "are either ignorant of Iranian society or they're just not being straight with the American people."

"If Congress were to kill this deal, they would not only pave Iran's pathway to a bomb, they would accelerate it," Obama said.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Obama: Successful Cold War diplomacy helped build Iran nuclear deal
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Foreign-Policy/2015/0805/Obama-Successful-Cold-War-diplomacy-helped-build-Iran-nuclear-deal
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe