Ukraine Crisis Deepens US Congressional Fears of an Agreement in Vienna

Rana Abtar - Washington

Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria December 3, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS
Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria December 3, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS
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Ukraine Crisis Deepens US Congressional Fears of an Agreement in Vienna

Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria December 3, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS
Deputy Secretary-General of the European External Action Service (EEAS) Enrique Mora and Iran's chief nuclear negotiator Ali Bagheri Kani wait for the start of a meeting of the JCPOA Joint Commission in Vienna, Austria December 3, 2021. EU Delegation in Vienna/Handout via REUTERS

About 200 Republican lawmakers wrote a letter to US President Joe Biden earlier in February urging him to put any nuclear deal reached with Iran to a vote in Congress.

“We will view any agreement reached in Vienna which is not submitted to the US Senate for ratification as a treaty—including any and all secret agreements made with Iran directly or on the sidelines of official talks—as non-binding,” the lawmakers wrote in a letter dated Feb. 16, 2022.

The lawmakers linked the file of negotiations with Iran and the Ukraine crisis, expressing concern that the United States’ dependence on Russia as a main mediator in the Vienna negotiations had weakened the US position with regards to Moscow’s plans to invade Ukraine.

“If your dependency on the Russians to revive the JCPOA [nuclear deal] is weakening our deterrent posture with the Russians in other areas of the world, the American people deserve to know,” they said, addressing Biden.

In this regard, a source in the US Congress told Asharq Al-Awsat that opponents were increasingly concerned that the Biden Administration would exploit the preoccupation with the Ukrainian crisis to conclude a deal with Tehran.

Similarly, the Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, complained that the Ukraine file had distracted his colleagues from the talks with Iran.

In remarks earlier this month, Menendez said that he was “not comfortable” with the lack of attention on Iran, adding that he was “not sure that [his] colleagues are as fully immersed on the challenges of Iran as we speak, as [he] would like them to be.”

These concerns were echoed by Rep. Sen. Lindsey Graham during his visit to Israel last week.

He said that the Iranians' acquisition of a nuclear weapon has more consequences than the Ukraine-Russia conflict. He added that Russia and Ukraine are of great importance, “but Iran’s acquisition of a nuclear capability will change all the rules of the game.”

In remarks to Asharq Al-Awsat, Jason Brodsky, Policy Director at United Against Nuclear Iran, said that Russia, which used to separate internationally disputed files from efforts to revive the nuclear agreement, might not be able this time to overcome the tension between the negotiating parties, which Iran would exploit to its advantage.

“The invasion of Ukraine will create rifts in Vienna. With the presence of the Russian envoy there, I think that Ukraine will complicate the internal dynamic between the Europeans, the United States and Russia…” he stated.



Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
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Russia Expels Two UK Diplomats as it Negotiates to Restore US Ties

A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
A flag flies at the British embassy in Moscow, Russia September 13, 2024. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights

Russia accused two British diplomats on Monday of spying and gave them two weeks to leave the country, reinforcing the downward trajectory of Moscow's diplomatic relations with Europe even as it negotiates to restore ties with the United States.
Britain's Foreign Office rejected the allegations against its diplomats as "baseless".
Moscow has been angered by Britain's continued military support for Ukraine and by Prime Minister Keir Starmer's recent statements about putting British boots on the ground and planes in the air in Ukraine as part of a potential peacekeeping force, Reuters said.
The expulsions also come days after three Bulgarians were found guilty in a London court of being part of a Russian spy unit run by Wirecard fugitive Jan Marsalek to carry out surveillance on a US military base and other individuals targeted by Moscow.
The two Britons appear to be the first Western diplomats to be expelled from Russia since Moscow and Washington opened talks on restoring staff at their respective embassies that have been depleted by tit-for-tat expulsions, part of Donald Trump's rapprochement with the Kremlin that has alarmed European allies.
Similar expulsions have sharply curtailed the functioning of Russian embassies across the West and of Western missions in Russia since President Vladimir Putin sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine in 2022.
Russia's Federal Security Service said the two British diplomats had provided false information when getting permission to enter the country, and it had "identified signs of intelligence and subversive work" they had carried out, harming Russian security.
The Kremlin said Russia's intelligence services were doing everything necessary to safeguard national security.
Responding to Moscow's decision, Britain's Foreign Office said in a statement: "This is not the first time that Russia has made malicious and baseless accusations against our staff."
RELATIONS IN DEEP FREEZE
Russia's Foreign Ministry said it had summoned a British embassy representative over the expulsions and had complained that the diplomats were "undeclared" employees of Britain's intelligence services, something Moscow would not tolerate.
The ministry said it would "respond in kind" if London now decided to "escalate" the situation.
Russian police in February opened a criminal investigation into an alleged assault on a freelance journalist by a person believed to be an employee of the British embassy, an allegation London dismissed as "an interference operation" designed to intimidate legitimate diplomats.
That announcement came a day after Britain announced it was expelling a Russian diplomat in retaliation for Moscow throwing out a British diplomat last November.
Relations between Britain and Russia have plunged to post-Cold War lows since the start of the Ukraine war. Britain has joined successive waves of sanctions against Russia and provided arms to Ukraine.