GOP senators don ‘Kick me” sign; Iranian official obliges

Jay Bookman in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

Forty-seven Republican senators have signed onto a remarkable letter to Iran’s leadership, in which they warn that the United States could and probably would break any deal that is reached by President Obama as soon as 2017, when a new president takes office.**

Content and motive aside, the letter itself drips with insulting condescension.

“It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system,” the letter lectures right from the opening sentence. After pointing out that Obama leaves office in 2017, the senators remind Iran’s leaders that “most of us will remain in office well beyond then, perhaps decades,” and that they would consider a deal “nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah Khamenei,” rather than an agreement between countries.

The senators conclude with the hope that “this letter enriches your knowledge of our constitutional system and promotes mutual understanding and clarity as nuclear negotiations continue.”

In short, the letter is a clear effort to sabotage the talks.

More here.