Members of the Iran Task Force, a committee of former government officials and nuclear specialists that helps advise Congress, warned Monday that the nuclear deal now in the works would bolster Teh-ran’s influence in the Middle East.
“On every level, this is a disaster,” former Democratic Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut said in a briefing for the media. “What we seem to be talking about now is a serial suspension of most of the economic sanctions in return for—not the elimination or end of the Iranian nuclear weapons program—but a kind of dialing-down temporarily.”
Former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana seconded Lieberman’s remarks, but argued the situation is challenging for the negotiating parties.
“One of the reasons it’s so difficult is because you’ve got to deal with the essential nature of the Iranian regime,” Bayh said. “Are they willing to essentially change themselves? You have to be a little skeptical about that.”
Bayh said there just might not be an alternative to the deal on the table.
“You do encounter situations in life where there just are not great alternatives. This may be one of them,” Bayh said. But, “I think the status quo is better than a bad deal.