The new Republican-controlled Congress wants to poison the nuclear talks with Iran, Jim W. Dean says.[/caption]WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Republican chairman and ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee are circulating a bipartisan letter to President Barack Obama highlighting concerns about a prospective deal the U.S. and its partners are negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program.
Chairman Rep. Ed Royce of California and Rep. Eliot Engel of New York on Monday released the draft letter that cites concern about the size of Iran's current uranium enrichment program, its failure to cooperate with international inspectors and a need for decades-long verifiable constraints on Iran's program.
The letter says Congress must be convinced that the terms of any deal close any pathway Iran might have to developing a nuclear weapon and that only then will Congress be able to consider easing economic sanctions.
By The Associated Press
