Scowcroft, Brzezinski urge Iran accord
WASHINGTON - Two pillars of the US foreign policy establishment urged Congress on Monday to forgo any new sanctions legislation directed against Iran, warning that it will risk "undermining or even shutting down" ongoing negotiations over Tehran's nuclear program.
In a letter to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, General Brent Scowcroft (retired), who served as national security adviser to Presidents Gerald Ford and George H W Bush, and Zbigniew Brzezinski, who served in the same post under President Jimmy Carter, said that an interim agreement with Iran - the focus of critical talks the next round of which is to begin Wednesday in Geneva - "would advance the national security of the United States, Israel, and other partners in the region".
"More sanctions now as these unprecedented negotiations are just getting underway would reconfirm Iranians in their belief that the US is not prepared to make any agreement with the current government of Iran," the two men wrote. "We call on all Americans and the US Congress to stand firmly with the President in the difficult but historic negotiations with Iran."
The letter, which was made available by the New York-based Iran Project, comes amidst an increasingly strident campaign by the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his supporters in the powerful Israel lobby here to oppose an interim accord that reportedly would permit Tehran to continue enriching uranium, albeit at a low level that would not lend itself to the production of a nuclear weapon.
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/MID-01-191113.html
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