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AIPAC launches all-out war against Iran agreement

31 Jul 2015 - 18:27


AIPAC, the main Israeli lobbying group in the United States, has launched a ferocious campaign to kill the Iran nuclear agreement, reports say.

This month, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee [AIPAC] launched a group, called “Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran,” to convince members of Congress to reject the conclusion of nuclear talks reached between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany – in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14.

The group has raised more than $20 million which it is spending on television ads and other stuff lobbying against the agreement.

AIPAC, which has more than 100,000 members and maintains a vast pool of Zionist donors, has also started targeting vulnerable Democrats in order to change their mind on the Vienna accord, reports said.

“The foreign lobby [AIPAC] is going into specific districts and trying to pressure Democrats who might be vulnerable in the next election cycle,” Daniel Patrick Welch, a political commentator in Boston, told Press TV on Thursday.

“And what they’ll do is paint anyone who doesn’t toe the line as being against Israel, and anti-Semitic etc, etc - the usual line. And they spend a lot of money doing that,” he added.

On Thursday evening, President Barack Obama warned Americans that if they don’t speak up in favor of the Iran agreement, the same people who got the United States into war against Iraq in 2003 could sabotage the Vienna accord as well.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] US President Barack Obama[/caption]

“The facts are on our side, but the politics are going to be tough if all of you don’t get involved and get active,” Obama stated.

The US president admitted that some Democratic lawmakers are wavering under pressure that is "fierce, well-financed and relentless.”

According to the text of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran will be recognized by the United Nations as a nuclear power and will continue its uranium enrichment program.

But some restrictions will be placed on Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the removal of sanctions against the Islamic Republic.

Most Republicans oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran, but they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override a possible presidential veto, and to reach that threshold, Republicans need Democratic support.

Israeli officials and AIPAC activists are trying their best to sink the nuclear agreement, which they claim will empower Iran and threaten Israel's existence.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) policy conference in Washington, DC, on March 2, 2015. (AFP photo)[/caption]

AIPAC has reportedly deployed about 300 lobbyists on Capitol Hill to try to convince lawmakers to vote against the nuclear agreement.

AIPAC, along with some other pro-Israel advocacy groups, are spending millions of dollars to fund a national television advertising campaign to inform the public “about the dangers of the proposed Iran deal.”

AIPAC critics have said it acts as an agent of the Israeli regime and has a "stranglehold" on Congress with its extensive influence and financial power.

The advocacy group has been accused of being strongly allied with the Likud party in Israel, and the Republican Party in the United States.

Senior Republican lawmakers have vowed to do their best effort to scuttle the Iran nuclear pact.

Meanwhile, Obama insists that the Iran accord is the only alternative to more war in the Middle East.

[caption id="" align="alignnone" width="650"] US Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz (R) testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee about the Iran nuclear agreement with (L-R) Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew and Defense Secretary Ashton Carter on Capitol Hill on July 29, 2015 in Washington, DC. (AFP photo)[/caption]

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz offered a vigorous defense of the Iran agreement as they faced tough questioning at a Senate committee hearing last week.

By Press TV


Story Code: 174158

News Link :
https://www.theiranproject.com/en/article/174158/aipac-launches-all-out-war-against-iran-agreement

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