The White House has reached an agreement with Iran to suspend its nuclear weapons program in exchange for sanctions relief.
Congress now has 60 days to weigh in on the deal. This morning, the House Foreign Affairs Committee is holding a hearing on the implications of the agreement.
The Cipher Brief caught up with General Michael V. Hayden, who is testifying before the Committee, along with former Senator Joe Lieberman and former Undersecretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns.
Hayden has been skeptical about a deal with Iran in part because he feels that negotiations have been too narrowly focused on only one of the three ways Iran could acquire a nuclear weapon.
“We’ve chosen to bet the farm on blocking the third critical path—that is, the creation of fissile material,” Hayden said in his statement to the Committee.
The former CIA director noted the other two paths—“weaponization” and “delivery systems”—had been effectively taken off the table.
Hayden cautiously concluded, “We don’t have much margin for error. “
The President went on TV this morning to reassure the public. “This deal meets every single one of the bottom lines that we established when we achieved a framework earlier this spring.”
We’ll see if Congress agrees. Lawmakers have 60 days to dive into the details.
