Democrats and Republicans are at odds over President Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran. Some GOP members say the agreement would fund terrorism while Democrats say the agreement would bring greater peace.
Mizzou Political Scientist Cooper Drury
Mizzou Political Science Professor Cooper Drury says both positions are exaggerations and the President is jumping the gun by saying his deal is already a success.
“This is where I have my biggest problem with it. It’s not a success yet,” said Drury. “All it is, is the start of a process. If the Iranians start cheating tomorrow, it was a failure. So we’ll have to see.”
Obama says the U.S. would gain extensive monitoring of Iran’s key nuclear facilities and comprehensive inspections.
“Without a deal, those inspections go away and we lose the ability to closely monitor Iran’s program and detect any covert nuclear weapons program,” said Obama.
Drury says he thinks lawmakers should choose the lesser of two evils and go with the President’s deal.
President Barack Obama
“I think we have to take risks like this. It could turn out badly and that’s why I think it’s very important we’re diligent over the next few years. If it starts going bad, we need to revert back to the sanction regime.”
Drury says if the U.S. doesn’t take a chance, it will cripple Iran’s economy, their people will be against the U.S. and Europe will be fed up and lift its sanctions. He says then the U.S. will be alone.
One of America’s key allies is Israel and their Prime Minister is not a fan of the President’s deal with Iran, but Drury thinks the U.S.’s relationship with Israel won’t be any more strained than it is now.
“The Israeli lobby in the U.S. has a lot of influence on U.S. politics. It doesn’t control it of course, but it has influence. The United States is very important to Israel and to its survival. We’ll continue to be allies, but they’ll be unhappy about this for awhile.”
Drury says there’s been friction between Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and President Obama for the past few months, but dismisses it as not unusual between world leaders.
