BICOM

The Washington Post reported yesterday that 190 former US generals and admirals have sent a letter to the US Congress urging its members to reject the Iran nuclear deal in votes scheduled to be held in September.

Senators and Representatives have been the target of a myriad of such letters in recent weeks, which both proponents and opponents of the deal have been sending and publishing to argue their case.

Amidst the multi-million dollar campaign being waged for and against the deal, reports both in the Financial Times and the New York Times speak of how President Obama is close to securing the support of enough members of both Houses to ensure that his veto will stand. Moreover, it is yet unclear that Senate Republicans will even be able to cobble together the 60 votes needed to initially reject the deal. This is the only way that would bring about a presidential veto. On Tuesday, Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington, the Senate’s fourth-ranking democrat, came out in favour of the deal. She follows in the footsteps of outgoing Senate minority leader, Harry Reid who announced his support over the weekend.

In a related development, former CIA director and four-star general David Petraeus and former special assistant to the president Ambassador Dennis Ross called on President Obama to provide Israel with the 30,000-pound Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP), as part of the US’s efforts to assuage its Middle Eastern allies, primarily Israel. Writing in the Washington Post yesterday, the former officials argue that supplying such weapons – which is the only weapon capable of hitting the Fordow facility – would go a long way to building Israeli deterrence vis-à-vis Iran and would help overcome some of the deal’s flaws.

Meanwhile, the head of Iran’s nuclear energy body is in Beijing at the moment to talk with Chinese about how to redesign the Arak heavy water reactor so that it comports with the agreement. In the JCPOA, Iran agreed to curtail its production of plutonium.