Joe Lieberman had an extensive political career, beginning in his home state and then in Washington DC. A state senator and later attorney general of Connecticut, he climbed to the national stage in 1989, when he was elected to represent his state in the Senate, holding his seat for 24 years until he retired in 2012. In addition, he was the Democratic nominee for vice president in the 2000 presidential election, when he accompanied Al Gore on the ticket.
A self-described "political independent," he went so far as to claim that he agreed with the Democrats on domestic policy and with the Republicans on foreign policy, an idea he recently reinforced. It turns out that Lieberman wrote an op-ed directly to Joe Biden, directly advising him not to sign another nuclear deal with Iran.
The former legislator left off any subtlety at the beginning of his letter and made his position very clear from the beginning. "In spite of Iran’s increasingly totalitarian, murderous, and anti-American behavior, the Biden administration is nevertheless trying again to negotiate a nuclear agreement with that terrorist state. It is like trying to bargain with a poisonous snake and will not end well for us," he wrote in the article, published in Roll Call.
Over the course of a few paragraphs, the Democrat placed special emphasis on Congress, which in his view is the only one capable of getting the Biden Administration's approach to Iran back on track. For Lieberman, approaching Iran at this time and insisting on signing another nuclear deal would be a" dangerous folly" that would undermine the "national security and credibility" of the United States.
Moreover, he believes that reconciliation would be making a mockery of the Iranians who fought and are fighting for freedom in their country. Faced with this situation, he suggests that Congress should stand strong and enforce the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act (INARA) passed in 2015.
Indeed, the legislation requires that within five days of "reaching an agreement with Iran regarding Iran's nuclear program," the president must transmit the agreement to the appropriate congressional committees and their leadership. Subsequently, lawmakers review the agreement and may even prevent the suspension of existing sanctions against the Iranian regime.
However, rumor has it that the Biden Administration may be negotiating an "understanding" rather than an "agreement," which could cause them to argue that they are not obligated to comply with INARA.
Sen. Joe Lieberman: The terrorist regime in #Iran must be removed and soon it will be removed by its own people led by #NCRI and #MEK resistance and its supports.#Westand4FreeIran #WeCanAndMust#MEKResistanceUnits #NCRIAlternative pic.twitter.com/Evkre0gW77
— 𝐌𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐚 𝐌𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐝 (@MitraMotamed) August 10, 2022
"If the executive branch is considering such an end run on the law, it should read it again. The language in INARA defining an 'agreement' could not be more broad. It clearly covers the kind of 'understanding' being discussed with Iran at the current talks in Oman. INARA defines an agreement that must be submitted to Congress as 'an agreement related to the nuclear program of Iran that commits the United States to take action, or pursuant to which the United States commits or otherwise agrees to take action, regardless of the form it takes, whether a political commitment or otherwise, and regardless of whether it is legally binding or not'," he said.
Despite this scenario, Lieberman, who criticized Iran for years, is optimistic. This sentiment is supported in two recent developments: the letters from Michel McCaul (chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee) to Anthony Blinken warning him of the consequences of failing to comply with INARA and the bipartisan letter signed by 26 senators that landed on President Biden's desk. In the latter case, the message urged the Commander-in-Chief to concentrate his efforts to deter Iran and not to fall into another "ineffective" agreement.
"Hopefully, Biden will quickly tell these senators and all of Congress exactly what is being discussed with the Iranians in Oman and promise to submit any 'understanding' that may result from those discussions to Congress, as the INARA law and our national security clearly requires," Lieberman finished.
