WASHINGTON:
Much after the world - barring hardline elements in Israel and US -
applauded his outreach to Iran through a nuclear deal, President Barack
Obama clinched adequate support for it in the Senate to prevent
Republicans and other domestic opponents from derailing it.
In a major foreign policy victory for him in the evening of his Presidency, several key Senators announced their support for the agreement, with Maryland's Barbara Mikulski tipping it over the 33 vote mark that is minimum needed for Obama to shepherd it through Congress.
''No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,'' Mikulski said in a statement on Wednesday morning, as Obama headed back from Alaska after a trip wrapped around climate change issues. ''I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal.''
If Obama gets seven more votes from fence-sitting Democrats, many of them beholden to or in awe of the hardline Jewish influence and money in U.S, he can even avoid using the veto to push through the agreement. Anything less than 33 votes - something the Republican majority was hoping for in tandem with hardline Democrats - would have killed the deal. A two-third's supermajority would have allowed them to override a Presidential veto.
Both internationally and domestically, the victory for Obama is significant, demonstrating that the US President still has legs going into the final 16 months of his second and final term, and he still has the support and respect of his party. The deal also has profound consequences for not just the middle-east but far beyond, including the Indian subcontinent, where New Delhi had to walk a fine line balancing its historical links and trade ties with Iran vis-a-vis the new courtship by the United States.
Indeed, Mikulski cited India's difficulties with US sanctions as one of the reasons she finally leaned towards the deal.
''Some have suggested we reject this deal and impose unilateral sanctions to force Iran back to the table. But maintaining or stepping up sanctions will only work if the sanction coalition holds together,'' she said. ''It's unclear if the European Union, Russia, China, India and others would continue sanctions if Congress rejects this deal. At best, sanctions would be porous, or limited to unilateral sanctions by the US.''
The US detente with Iran will also result in circumventing the toxic policies of Pakistan, which has held a land-locked Afghanistan hostage to its strategic depth policy. With India, US and other interested countries now able to access Afghanistan through Iranian ports, Kabul also gets a lifeline, even as Pakistan's blackmailing and rent-seeking from US draws to a close.
In a major foreign policy victory for him in the evening of his Presidency, several key Senators announced their support for the agreement, with Maryland's Barbara Mikulski tipping it over the 33 vote mark that is minimum needed for Obama to shepherd it through Congress.
''No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,'' Mikulski said in a statement on Wednesday morning, as Obama headed back from Alaska after a trip wrapped around climate change issues. ''I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal.''
If Obama gets seven more votes from fence-sitting Democrats, many of them beholden to or in awe of the hardline Jewish influence and money in U.S, he can even avoid using the veto to push through the agreement. Anything less than 33 votes - something the Republican majority was hoping for in tandem with hardline Democrats - would have killed the deal. A two-third's supermajority would have allowed them to override a Presidential veto.
Both internationally and domestically, the victory for Obama is significant, demonstrating that the US President still has legs going into the final 16 months of his second and final term, and he still has the support and respect of his party. The deal also has profound consequences for not just the middle-east but far beyond, including the Indian subcontinent, where New Delhi had to walk a fine line balancing its historical links and trade ties with Iran vis-a-vis the new courtship by the United States.
Indeed, Mikulski cited India's difficulties with US sanctions as one of the reasons she finally leaned towards the deal.
''Some have suggested we reject this deal and impose unilateral sanctions to force Iran back to the table. But maintaining or stepping up sanctions will only work if the sanction coalition holds together,'' she said. ''It's unclear if the European Union, Russia, China, India and others would continue sanctions if Congress rejects this deal. At best, sanctions would be porous, or limited to unilateral sanctions by the US.''
The US detente with Iran will also result in circumventing the toxic policies of Pakistan, which has held a land-locked Afghanistan hostage to its strategic depth policy. With India, US and other interested countries now able to access Afghanistan through Iranian ports, Kabul also gets a lifeline, even as Pakistan's blackmailing and rent-seeking from US draws to a close.
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