News Entertainment Lifestyle Tech & Innovation All Sections Feedback View Desktop Terms Privacy Policy Copyright © 2015 TheHuffingtonPost, Inc. | The Huffington Post is a registered trademark of TheHuffingtonPost, Inc. All rights reserved. John Boehner Didnt Consult White House on Netanyahu Visit00:30 Iran Sanctions Supporters Dont Want To Improve Nuclear Talks. They Want To Destroy Them. Akbar Shahid Ahmed Posted: 01/22/15 08:11 PM ET Updated: 4 hours ago WASHINGTON -- House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) appeared to have pulled off a masterful political victory against the Obama administration Wednesday when he revealed that he had invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address Congress on the dangers of the administrations negotiations with Iran. Coming a day after President Barack Obama threatened to veto new Iran-related sanctions legislation that he said could harm the negotiations, Boehners move looked like a smart way to reinforce support for such bills -- a priority for the Republican-led Congress -- by showing that the U.S.s top ally in the region supported them. Then things started to fall apart. Secretary of State John Kerry, fresh off his fumbling on the issue of French solidarity, pulled off a diplomatic bank shot by using a different part of the Israeli government against Boehner. Asked about the invitation at a press conference with European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, Kerry diplomatically said Netanyahu was welcome in the U.S. any time -- and proceeded to both steal Boehners thunder and turn news coverage in a different direction. In Israel, one of the top intelligence –- one of the top intelligence personnel within the Israeli intelligence field –- I won’t name names, but this person was asked directly by a congressional delegation that visited there over the weekend what the effect of sanctions would be. And this person answered that it would be like throwing a grenade into the process, Kerry said. So we’re asking people to be responsible here, and then let’s have a good, responsible debate about what the best way to proceed is. Kerrys comment altered the conversation, making it about whether Republicans want to torpedo nuclear talks with Iran. The Obama administration describes the negotiations as the only way to ensure that Iran cannot gain a nuclear weapon to threaten the very country Boehner says the administration is failing: Israel. Kerrys message: Its Republicans, and the Democrats who support them on new sanctions, who would fail Israel by antagonizing Iran and destroying the chance of a peaceful resolution to the years-long controversy over Tehrans nuclear program.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Jan 2015 08:53:58 +0000
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