A letter by 47 U.S. Republican senators to the government of Iran has backfired spectacularly. Ostensibly, the letter was intended to warn Tehran of opposition to the nuclear deal that is being negotiated with Washington and five other governments — Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia. It has instead exposed the Senate Republicans as irresponsible amateurs in the practice of foreign policy and introduced partisan politics into the discussion of the deal, fracturing the opposition that is needed if the skeptics' view is to prevail.
The "P5+1" negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program are heading toward a final conclusion. The talks now have a deadline for the end of this month, a date that is likely to stick having been twice moved back. The particulars of a deal remain unknown, but the final document will restrict Iranian capabilities without eliminating them completely. Iran's ratification of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) permits the country to possess a peaceful nuclear program and Tehran has warned that it will maintain that right as an assertion of its sovereignty.
For some, that is impermissible, the terms of the NPT be damned. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sees any nuclear capacity in Iran — no matter what the size or purpose — as unacceptable and he used his speech to a joint session of Congress two weeks ago to hammer home that point. While Netanyahu sees any Iranian nuclear capability as an existential threat to his country, he provided no alternative means to cap Iran's nuclear ambitions.