'Congress can’t serve US national interests due to Israel lobby'

Rasa - The US Congress cannot serve the country’s “genuine national interests” because of the powerful Israel lobby that heavily influences American lawmakers, says a political analyst.

News ID: 433152

Date: 15 October 2017 - 23:13

RNA - Scott Rickard made the remarks in an interview, when asked about former Secretary of State John Kerry’s criticism of the Trump administration’s Iran strategy.

President Donald Trump announced on Friday that he would not recertify a 2015 nuclear agreement, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), signed between Iran and the world powers.

Kerry called Trump’s decision “dangerous” and said the Republican president created “an international crisis” that “endangers America's national security interests and those of our closest allies.”

Trump kicked a decision over to Congress on whether to re-impose sanctions that were lifted as part of the nuclear accord. He also threatened to terminate the deal if Congress and American allies failed to amend the agreement.

Kerry, who played a key role in negotiating the nuclear accord, called on Congress “to be the adult in the room and act in America's genuine national security interest.”

Rickard, however, said “that is not possible in the American Congress because of the massive amounts of influence from the pro-Israel lobbies and the anti-Iranian lobbies that exist among the pro-Israel lobbies.”

“This anti-Iranian sentiment crisscrosses both of the Republican and Democratic Parties, so much so that… we are being ruled by nothing more than puppets to a pro-Israel agenda,” added Rickard, who is a former American intelligence linguist.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has reported that Iran is complying with the nuclear agreement.

This is not the first time that the international community witnesses efforts by the Trump administration to renege on a multilateral agreement.

Source: Press TV

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