After intense talks with six world powers including the United States, on November 23rd Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program. The deal strikes a balance between Iranian calls for a recognized right to enrich uranium and the six powers’ (including the U.K., Russia, France, China, and Germany) goal to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. In exchange for halting enrichment to medium grade (20 percent) purity – a degree that can be enriched to weapons-grade level with relative ease according to BBC – international sanctions worth $7 billion will be relaxed on Iran. The deal is set to last for six months while a more permanent agreement is sought.
The United States’ participation in the Iran deal, as well as participation in planned talks to bring the war in Syria to an end, is heralded by the New York Times as evidence that diplomacy “has once again become the centerpiece of American foreign policy.” After over a decade of war, one would expect diplomacy to be welcomed as the modus operandi of U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East. But President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are attracting an onslaught of criticism for their initiatives based on engagement, as opposed to confrontation, with foreign administrations particularly following the Iran nuclear program agreement. Relations are thawing with America’s historic enemy Iran, and its friendship with close ally Israel is becoming increasingly strained (the two developments are inextricable). The agreement announced last week is the first step towards a permanent nuclear deal with Iran, but it is also indicative of the foreign policy landscape of the U.S. in coming years, and many people are not happy with it.
America’s Future in the Middle East
Obama’s foreign policy initiatives are a far call from the age of the Bush administration – unilateral action that planted America in two wars and garnered it a reputation of disregard for other countries’ sovereignty. In his second term, a period presidents invest in their foreign policy legacy, Obama is quietly tying up the loose ends of the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and establishing a foreign policy presence in the Middle East, characterized by negotiation as opposed to heavy handed intervention.
“When I first ran for president I said it was time for a new era of American leadership in the world, one that turned the page on a decade of war and began a new era of our engagement with the world,” the president said during a visit to San Francisco. “As president and as commander in chief, I’ve done what I said.”
The president is ruffling feathers as he fulfills his 2008 campaign promises. Hot on the heels of the nuclear program agreement Republican and a number of Democrat lawmakers railed against reducing pressure on Iran by easing sanctions. “This agreement will not ‘freeze’ Iran’s nuclear program and won’t require the regime to suspend all enrichment as required by multiple UN Security Council resolutions,” Republican Sen. Marco Rubio said in a statement. “By allowing the Iranian regime to retain a sizable nuclear infrastructure, this agreement makes a nuclear Iran more likely.” Lawmakers critical of the deal also made promises for legislative action to establish new sanctions. “There is now an even more urgent need for Congress to increase sanctions until Iran completely abandons its enrichment and reprocessing capabilities,” Rubio said.
Iran the Enemy
Violent reactions are inevitable. Tensions between the United States and Iran have not eased in 30 years. Deep seated mistrust born from 20th century incidents (see the CIA’s involvement in a 1953 coup toppling a democratically elected Iranian leader, and the 1979 hostage crisis) compounded by with antagonism over fundamentally conflicting religious and social ideologies, has undermined any and all diplomatic efforts to relax the “poisoned” relationship in recent administrations.
Representative of the vitriolic attitude many American policy makers feel towards Iran, in response to the announcement of the nuclear program deal former U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman said on CNN “Iran is an enemy … there is American blood on Iranian hands.”
In the face of the rancor of American law-makers, leaders of both countries are making concerted efforts to thaw relations between America and Iran. Newly elected, and comparatively moderate, President Rouhani of Iran extended a hand to America on several occasions following his election in June. In an op-ed piece for the Washington Post Rouhani addressed American readers, “we must work together to end the unhealthy rivalries and interferences that fuel violence and drive us apart.”
With respect to the recent nuclear program agreement, the initiative taken on both sides of the table is nearly shocking. According to the Associated Press, U.S. officials held “unprecedented” secret talks with Iranian officials in months leading up to the Geneva meeting. The meetings were authorized by Obama and carried out in secret in order to avoid competing agendas of the other negotiating partners.
Cooling Relations with Israel
The changing tide of American foreign policy under Obama not only sees a former diplomatic leper engaged, but also a weakened relationship with a previously close ally: American-Israeli relations are icier than ever. Obama’s agenda of engagement and restraint is serious point of friction in recent months. Israeli President Binyamin Netanyahu has emphasized his conviction that Iran is working to achieve a nuclear weapon; he advocates for maintaining or increasing U.S. sanctions on Iran.
Netanyahu failed to impede negotiations of the Iran deal not from lack of trying. In November, before talks concluded, a member of Netanyahu’s government promised that “we will lobby dozens of members of the US Congress to whom I will personally explain … that Israel’s security is in jeopardy.” The agreement that was ultimately reached garnered overt hostility from Netanyahu.”What was achieved yesterday in Geneva is not a historic agreement but rather a historic mistake,” he told his cabinet last week.
Secretary of State Kerry is currently lobbying Netanyahu to “allow the United States and other world powers some breathing room to make a good final deal with Iran,” according to the Washington Post. As world leaders work towards a comprehensive nuclear deal with Iran, American citizens as well as law makers will have to adjust to the new status quo. But it doesn’t look like it will be an easy process. Kerry will be busy in the next couple months as pro Israel lawmakers threaten Iran negotiations with talk of new sanctions.