A few signers now pull back on Iran letter

Senator sees ‘tactical error’

Criticism of 47 Republican senators’ letter to Iranian leaders escalated Friday. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., defended the letter but added, “If there was any regret, tactically, it probably would have been better just to have it be an open letter addressed to no one.”
Criticism of 47 Republican senators’ letter to Iranian leaders escalated Friday. Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., defended the letter but added, “If there was any regret, tactically, it probably would have been better just to have it be an open letter addressed to no one.”

WASHINGTON -- At least a few of the Republican senators are expressing some second thoughts after signing an open letter drafted by Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and sent to Iran's leaders.

As criticism mounted from allies, home-state editorial boards and colleagues who opted not to sign the missive, Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin became the latest Republican to suggest he might do things differently if given another chance.

Johnson said he stood by the content of the letter, which warned Iran that any deal with President Barack Obama could be revoked by the next president unless Congress approves. But he said it probably shouldn't have been directed to leaders of the Islamic Republic.

"I suppose the only regret is who it's addressed to," Johnson said Friday. He said it may have been a "tactical error" and that the letter could have been addressed to Obama's administration or the American people.

Arizona's Sen. John McCain, a prominent Republican voice on foreign affairs and national security and a signer of the letter, has said haste and an impending snowstorm in Washington short-circuited more measured consideration of the letter.

"It was kind of a very rapid process. Everybody was looking forward to getting out of town because of the snowstorm," McCain said. "I think we probably should have had more discussion about it given the blowback that there is."

He said perhaps the message could have been sent to Iran in a way that wasn't perceived as undermining the White House.

"Maybe that wasn't exactly the best way to do that," McCain said, "but I think the Iranians should know that the Congress of the United States has to play a role."

The U.S. and five world powers are negotiating with Iran to try to reach a framework agreement this month and a final accord in July that would curb Tehran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Western nations have long suspected that Iran is pursuing nuclear-weapons capability, but Iran insists its program is devoted to civilian applications.

The administration has said the agreement being discussed would cut back Iran's ability to enrich uranium and ensure that Iran is a minimum of one year away from a breakout -- the time needed to assemble the fissile material for a weapon -- for at least 10 years. Obama has said any deal also would require Iran to submit to a strict inspections schedule.

Cotton said Iran should have no right to enrich uranium and that the U.S. must keep a credible military threat on the table to enforce the demands. The letter sent Monday said the only acceptable deal with Iran would require the dismantling of the program.

The White House, which already was facing pushback on the Iran nuclear negotiations from some Democrats as well as Republicans, seized on the letter to argue that Republicans were making foreign policy a partisan issue.

The president said Monday that the lawmakers seemed to be "wanting to make common cause with the hardliners in Iran." In a recorded interview with the website Vice, an excerpt of which was released Friday, Obama said, "I'm embarrassed for them."

European allies who also are party to the Iran negotiations have condemned the letter as counterproductive.

"Suddenly, Iran can say to us: 'Are your proposals actually trustworthy if 47 senators say that no matter what the government agrees to, we can subsequently take it off the table?'" German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said Thursday during remarks at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

"This is no small matter we're talking about," Steinmeier said. "This is not just an issue of American domestic politics."

The letter was signed by 47 of the 54 Republican senators and no Democrats.

While much of the attention surrounding the letter has been on Cotton and several potential presidential candidates who signed the letter, Sen. John Boozman of Arkansas also signed it.

He said Friday that he signed on because the president isn't listening to Congress' concerns about the potential deal.

"The frustration was that you have a situation where the president seemed to be going alone and negotiating what I consider to be a treaty," Boozman said. "The reality is that in talking about an agreement, you're really talking about whether or not your children, your grandchildren are going to have to contend with nuclear war, so it's very, very important."

Boozman called the letter "just another tool in the toolbox to ratchet things up" and said he didn't expect such a strong reaction.

The White House and Democratic campaign organizations have been emailing links to newspaper editorials from around the country denouncing the letter.

In Ohio, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and Cincinnati Enquirer endorsed Sen. Rob Portman's 2010 campaign, but they berated him this week for signing the Iran letter.

"The magnitude of this disgraceful decision," a Plain Dealer editorial said, "shows the degree to which partisanship has gobbled up rationality on foreign policy."

The Cincinnati Enquirer's editorial said the letter "diminishes the dignity of the Senate by disparaging the president and presenting an amateur lesson on U.S. governance." It praised Portman in general, but said he erred because "now, facing re-election, he's nervous."

Several other newspaper editorial boards in New Hampshire, Illinois and Utah also criticized their states' senators for signing the letter.

No Republican has stepped back from the content of the letter, which warned Iran that any agreement struck with Obama to curb its nuclear program may be reversed by his successor or changed by U.S. lawmakers.

McCain said he was "glad" to have signed it. Portman said he thinks the letter will help move the negotiators toward a deal that will be more limiting on Iran's nuclear program.

It "reminds those negotiators at the table, on the other side of the table from us, that this has to be a verifiable, strong agreement that actually ends their nuclear weapons program," Portman said.

Cotton, an Iraq War veteran who handily ousted incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Pryor in November, also said he has no regrets.

"I will never apologize for standing for a safe and secure America!" he posted on Twitter on Wednesday.

On Thursday he added: "I'll always stand against a course of action that I believe is wrong and dangerous for America."

Information for this article was contributed by Justin Sink, Heidi Przybyla and Kathleen Hunter of Bloomberg News; by Charles Babington, Stephen Ohlemacher and staff members of The Associated Press; by Lisa Mascaro and Ramin Mostaghim of Tribune News Service; and by Sarah D. Wire of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

A Section on 03/14/2015

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