NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, March 9, 2015, 11:06 PM
Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said, ‘I'd encourage Hillary Clinton to join us’ and encouraged other presidential candidates to add their signatures to the letter.
WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans who sent a letter to Iran’s leaders in an unprecedented attempt to undermine nuclear talks are siding with America’s enemies, President Obama and Senate Democrats charged Monday.
“It’s somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran,” Obama told reporters Monday. “It’s an unusual coalition.”
Senate Democrats went further. “Let’s be clear,” Minority Leader Harry Reid said. “Republicans are undermining our commander-in-chief while empowering the ayatollahs.”
The group of 47 Senate Republicans, in their open letter to “the leaders of the Islamic Republic of Iran” released Monday, asserted Iranians “may not fully understand” the U.S. constitutional system, which gives Congress power over treaties.
Tyler Evert AP/AP
West Virginia Republican Senator Shelley Moore Capito was one of many Republicans to sign the letter to Iran which undermined nuclear talks.
Senate Judiciary Committee member Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, also was a signee. The letter as infuriated Democrats in the Senate and in the White House.
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They warned any deal between Iran and Obama could be dead in the water once the President leaves office.
“We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement,” the senators wrote.
“The next President could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen,” they said — adding that Congress would also alter it.
Furious Democrats accused the senators of aiding Iranian extremists who oppose all diplomacy with the West.
Vice President Biden, in an angry statement Monday night, said the letter "is beneath the dignity of an institution I revere — the U.S. Senate.
"In 36 years in the United States Senate, I cannot recall another instance in which senators wrote directly to advise another country — much less a longtime foreign adversary — that the President does not have the constitutional authority to reach a meaningful understanding with them.
President Barack Obama spoke on the matter as well, saying it was 'somewhat ironic to see some members of Congress wanting to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran.'
“This letter sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America’s commitments — a message that is as false as it is dangerous," he said.
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) said the Republicans should “think twice about whether their political stunt is worth the threat of another war in the Middle East.”
Presidential spokesman Josh Earnest said the letter “throws sand in the gears” of talks to freeze Iran’s nuclear program, which are aiming to reach a deal by the end of the month.
“A letter like this that appeals to the hard-liners in Iran is frankly just the latest in an ongoing strategy, a partisan strategy, to undermine the President’s ability to conduct foreign policy and advance our national interests around the world,” Earnest said.
He ripped the Republicans for “the rush to war, or at least the rush to the military option.”
Freshman Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.), 37, who organized the letter, seemed unperturbed. “There are nothing but hard-liners in Iran,” Cotton told CNN.
Gerry Broome/AP
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina signed the letter to Iran, which declared that any agreement the country reaches with the U.S. had to be approved by Congress.
Sen. Kelly Ayotte, R-N.H., along with other Republican leadership, said the 'next President could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen.'
Vice President Joe Biden had harsh words for those who signed the letter, like Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss. (pictured), calling the letter 'dangerous.'
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Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, said the letter won’t affect talks.
“In our view, this letter has no legal value and is mostly a propaganda ploy,” Zarif said.
“It is very interesting that while negotiations are still in progress and while no agreement has been reached, some political pressure groups are so afraid even of the prospect of an agreement that they resort to unconventional methods, unprecedented in diplomatic history,” he said in a written statement.
Democrats are livid over the letter GOP leaders sent to Iran, with Minority Leader harry Reid saying: 'Republicans are undermining our commander-in-chief while empowering the ayatollahs.'
All Senate GOP leaders and likely presidential candidates Marco Rubio of Florida, Ted Cruz of Texas, and Rand Paul of Kentucky signed the letter.
But several Republicans declined to sign, including Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
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