Lawmakers Recoil Over U.S. Détente with Iran, Distance From Israel

ByJay Solomon

White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice participates in the Aspen Institute and The Atlantic magazine’s Washington Ideas Forum with interviewer Jerry Seib of The Wall Street Journal, in Washington Oct. 29, 2014. (Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

Reuters

U.S. lawmakers are voicing concern and criticism over warming ties between the Obama administration and Iran, calling it a strategic miscalculation and an affront to Washington’s decades-long alliance with Israel.

Pointing to potential consequences, members of Congress are demanding greater oversight of negotiations now nearing the final stages between Iran and global powers seeking to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for an easing of Western sanctions. The two sides are working toward a Nov. 24 deadline.

A political reaction was touched off by an article Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal about the nuclear negotiations and the reduction of tensions between Washington and Tehran over the past year, in large part coinciding with the rise of Islamic State militants, who have grabbed territory across Iraq and Syria.

Lawmakers also criticized the White House over an article on the Atlantic’s website that anonymously quoted a senior U.S. official belittling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as an international leader, and others agreeing.

“I’m appalled at recent media reports suggesting the Obama administration is seeking ‘détente’ with Iran, while unnamed administration officials disparage Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu with vulgar, ad hominem attacks,” said Rep. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who is running for Senate.

Some lawmakers called on Mr. Obama to fire administration officials quoted in the Atlantic  article. “It is time for him to get his house in order and tell the people that can’t muster professionalism that it is time to move on,” said House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio).

The White House distanced itself Wednesday from the criticisms leveled against Mr. Netanyahu and said the U.S.-Israel alliance remained “unbreakable.” White House spokesman Josh Earnest, however, declined to comment on whether Mr. Obama would call Mr. Netanyahu to apologize.

White House National Security Adviser Susan Rice said the U.S. wasn’t engaged in a formal détente with Tehran, despite the efforts to forge a deal on the nuclear program.

“There is no détente, there is frankly no dramatic change in the nature of the relationship,” Ms. Rice told a Washington conference hosted by the Aspen Institute and the Atlantic.

She added that if the two countries reach a nuclear agreement, it would be a significant achievement that would further U.S. national security interests, but would not detract from other U.S. concerns about the country.