AIPAC gets Democrats to help Trump chip away at nuclear deal
AIPAC is marshaling significant bipartisan backing for a bid to extend the Iran nuclear deal’s first sunset provision as hawks push for snapback sanctions at the United Nations.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) lost a bruising battle with President Barack Obama in 2015 when it failed to stop the Iran nuclear deal after spending millions and alienating large swaths of the Democratic party.
But now that the nuclear deal is on life support, the influential lobby group is mustering significant Democratic support for President Donald Trump’s campaign to undo a key provision of the accord at the United Nations. Thousands of AIPAC activists convened on Capitol Hill this week to ask lawmakers to support extending the UN conventional arms embargo on Iran, which expires in October as the first sunset provision in the nuclear deal.
The push to extend the sunset provision has even generated support among nuclear deal proponents on Capitol Hill, in part because Iran said it would not comply with the deal's requirements following the Jan. 3 killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani. The step came amid President Donald Trump’s maximum pressure campaign on Tehran following US withdrawal from the accord.
“The reality is the nuclear deal doesn’t exist today,” Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., the top Democrat on the Middle East panel, told Al-Monitor. “You have to live in that reality. I don’t think it’d be great policy to let the embargo disappear if we’re not in the [deal]. So, I’m generally sympathetic to the idea that we’re going to need to re-up it and be back in a position to negotiate with the Iranians in the next administration.”
