US Congress Influenced by Lobby, Opposes Any Deal with Iran

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RIA Novosti, PUBLISHED 12.06.2014

It is going to be difficult for President Barack Obama to sell any kind of deal with Iran to US Congress, because the government body does not act impartially, said Alice Slater, the New York director of the Nuclear Age Peace Foundation.

“It is influenced by lobbyists, particularly the Christian right and the AIPAC [The American Israel Public Affairs Committee] lobby, to oppose any deal with Iran, even though Iran has the legal right to enrich uranium under IAEA safeguards,” Slater told RIA Novosti Tuesday.

“Iran has agreed to be bound by the terms of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, for ‘peaceful’ uses,” she stressed. “It deserves the same treatment as every other party to the NPT [Non-Proliferation Treaty] to rely on so-called ‘peaceful uses’ without prejudice.”

“That said, it cannot be denied that every nuclear power plant is a potential bomb factory, and the whole world would be better off if no one used uranium in nuclear reactors which produces the material that can be enriched to bomb-making uranium,” Slater noted.

“With enough sun, wind, hydro and geothermal energy to power the whole earth many times over, it is a pity that no nation, except for perhaps Germany, is taking the lead to wean us off filthy and dangerous fossil and nuclear fuels,” she concluded.

Senior Iranian and American officials met in Geneva Monday as part of a two-day meeting to discuss Tehran’s nuclear program. The meetings come ahead of another round of nuclear negotiations between Iran and the P5+1 group scheduled for June 16-20 in Vienna.

Topics: USA, Iran

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