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Horse-trading Iran hawks seize on Pompeo's Senate interest
Source: Associated Press
Horse-trading Iran hawks seize on Pompeo’s Senate interest
By MATTHEW LEE
December 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — In recent days, Iran hawks in Congress leveraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interest in a Senate run to win a key concession from the Trump administration that could help their bid to kill the nuclear deal with Tehran.
Late last week, the State Department agreed to release a portion of an internal legal opinion that says the U.S. has the right to demand that all U.N. sanctions on Iran be reinstated, despite President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal. In exchange, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lifted his hold on the nomination for Stephen Biegun to serve as the State Department’s No. 2 official, according to an administration official and a congressional aide.
Cruz’s hold on Biegun not only put his nomination in jeopardy, but it also risked upending a relatively seamless transition at the State Department if Pompeo soon steps down to run for Senate in Kansas. Without Biegun in place, the top job at State would have likely gone on an interim basis to a David Hale, a career official who testified in the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
The behind-the-scenes drama raises new questions about Pompeo’s future as the nation’s top diplomat. A former congressman and Trump’s CIA director, Pompeo has been weighing a Senate campaign in his home state for months, though officials say no final decision has been made.
The matter also highlights the extent to which some Republicans in Washington are still pushing to dismantle remaining elements of the Iran nuclear accord more than a year after the U.S. withdrew. The State Department legal opinion will be used by Cruz and others in the coming weeks to argue that Washington can still force the reimposition of U.N. sanctions set to expire next year.
-snip-
By MATTHEW LEE
December 15, 2019
WASHINGTON (AP) — In recent days, Iran hawks in Congress leveraged Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interest in a Senate run to win a key concession from the Trump administration that could help their bid to kill the nuclear deal with Tehran.
Late last week, the State Department agreed to release a portion of an internal legal opinion that says the U.S. has the right to demand that all U.N. sanctions on Iran be reinstated, despite President Donald Trump pulling the U.S. out of the nuclear deal. In exchange, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, lifted his hold on the nomination for Stephen Biegun to serve as the State Department’s No. 2 official, according to an administration official and a congressional aide.
Cruz’s hold on Biegun not only put his nomination in jeopardy, but it also risked upending a relatively seamless transition at the State Department if Pompeo soon steps down to run for Senate in Kansas. Without Biegun in place, the top job at State would have likely gone on an interim basis to a David Hale, a career official who testified in the impeachment inquiry into Trump.
The behind-the-scenes drama raises new questions about Pompeo’s future as the nation’s top diplomat. A former congressman and Trump’s CIA director, Pompeo has been weighing a Senate campaign in his home state for months, though officials say no final decision has been made.
The matter also highlights the extent to which some Republicans in Washington are still pushing to dismantle remaining elements of the Iran nuclear accord more than a year after the U.S. withdrew. The State Department legal opinion will be used by Cruz and others in the coming weeks to argue that Washington can still force the reimposition of U.N. sanctions set to expire next year.
-snip-
Read more: https://apnews.com/a9befc75d569d97c82f18d164cc3283d
