Most, if not all, Republican Senators oppose the deal with Iran that the Obama administration just announced. The problem is that people are starting to ask them what the alternative should be, and a lot of them don't have any answer to that question.
Until yesterday. Yesterday, the two Senators from South Carolina, Graham and Corker, each separately suggested that instead of this new deal with Iran, we should stick with the 2013 JPOA. But if you turn the clock back to 2013, Senators Graham and Corker were completely opposed to the JPOA.
So maybe the way to get Republican Senators on board with this deal is if President Obama announces some newer deal with Iran that he claims is even better--not a real deal, a fantasy deal that he makes up on the spot. After Obama announces the made-up deal, all the GOPers will get on the TeeVee and talk about how the newer deal is a big sellout to Iran and instead we should go back to that April 2014 framework (you know, the actual deal).
(Joking aside, going back to the JPOA is ridiculous because that deal was designed to be temporary. The whole idea of the JPOA was for a one year temporary deal and that during that year Iran and the P5+1 would use that year to negotiate a permanent arrangement for dealing with Iran's nuclear program. That is the very deal that was just announced last week. By its own terms the JPOA is not going to last much longer. If a new deal is not reached, the JPOA will expire. There is no reason for Iran, or any of the other countries involved, to agree to an indefinite extension to the JPOA without the promise that this is a lead-in to a final nuclear deal.)
Until yesterday. Yesterday, the two Senators from South Carolina, Graham and Corker, each separately suggested that instead of this new deal with Iran, we should stick with the 2013 JPOA. But if you turn the clock back to 2013, Senators Graham and Corker were completely opposed to the JPOA.
So maybe the way to get Republican Senators on board with this deal is if President Obama announces some newer deal with Iran that he claims is even better--not a real deal, a fantasy deal that he makes up on the spot. After Obama announces the made-up deal, all the GOPers will get on the TeeVee and talk about how the newer deal is a big sellout to Iran and instead we should go back to that April 2014 framework (you know, the actual deal).
(Joking aside, going back to the JPOA is ridiculous because that deal was designed to be temporary. The whole idea of the JPOA was for a one year temporary deal and that during that year Iran and the P5+1 would use that year to negotiate a permanent arrangement for dealing with Iran's nuclear program. That is the very deal that was just announced last week. By its own terms the JPOA is not going to last much longer. If a new deal is not reached, the JPOA will expire. There is no reason for Iran, or any of the other countries involved, to agree to an indefinite extension to the JPOA without the promise that this is a lead-in to a final nuclear deal.)
