Senate Republicans Blast John Kerry Iran Briefing For Being “Solely an Emotional Appeal,” Warn of a “Future of Nuclear War,” Democrats Mostly Mum

It’s hard not to wonder whether the
interest by some senators to bring fear mongering on Iran back to
the forefront of Washington’s agenda is related to what a shit job
that body’s done on everything from developing a federal budget to
passing the mess that Obamacare has revealed itself to be as is in
the first place. It’s certainly also possible that Secretary of
State John Kerry is so far down the rabbit hole of “the White House
is never wrong” that he can’t make a credible argument in favor of
an Administration policy even when that policy is sound.

Whatever the case, John Kerry was apparently not successful in
convincing Senate hawks that renewing sanctions while negotiations
with Iran have not yet collapsed is a bad idea. In fact,
Republicans
reportedly stormed out of yesterday’s briefing while Democrats
didn’t want to comment.
Via Foreign Policy:

“It was solely an emotional appeal,” Sen. Bob Corker
(R-TN) told reporters after the briefing. “I am stunned that in a
classified setting, when you’re trying to talk with the very folks
that would be originating legislation relative to sanctions, there
would be such a lack of specificity.”

“Today is the day in which I witnessed the future of nuclear war in
the Middle East,” said Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL), a staunch Iran hawk.
“This administration, like Neville Chamberlain, is yielding large
and bloody conflict in the Middle East involving Iranian nuclear
weapons.” Kirk added that he felt the briefing was
“anti-Israeli.”

The vituperative GOP response was matched by relative silence by
exiting Democrats.

“I’m not gonna comment,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA).

“No comment,” said Tim Johnson (D-SD), the chairman of the Senate
Banking Committee.

Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV) declined to answer questions about sanctions
as he ascended a congressional escalator. 

“Was this a helpful briefing?” asked The Cable.

“Yes. Very helpful,” said Reid.

When asked how so, Reid did not elaborate.

Corker, Kirk and the rest can read a case against new Iran
sanctions not rooted on emotional appeal
here. John Kerry’s welcome to lift from it, no footnotes
necessary.

They can all also read more Reason commentary on Iran here.