--- title: Iran Deal Will Go Forward — And That's Good News description: The Iran Deal moving forward is very good news for those of us who believe in creative diplomacy canonical: https://time.com/4022138/good-news-iran/ author: Joe Klein article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-09-03T22:09:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:41:34.765Z article:section: Politics og:title: Why It's Good News That the Iran Deal Will Go Forward og:description: Joe Klein's take on the Iran Deal og:url: https://time.com/4022138/good-news-iran/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435b9b2c01966e2c/6988623b2dce010f0e9e55ec/john-kerry-iran-deal1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Secretary State John Kerry Iran og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Why It's Good News That the Iran Deal Will Go Forward twitter:description: Joe Klein's take on the Iran Deal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt435b9b2c01966e2c/6988623b2dce010f0e9e55ec/john-kerry-iran-deal1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Why It's Good News That the Iran Deal Will Go Forward > Sponsored content. 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Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=3afd7d7a-7134-42d6-9aa5-688833c3b622&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 2016 Candidates Speak Out On The Iran Deal [Watch (HLS stream): 2016 Candidates Speak Out On The Iran Deal](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/k9oXHx6b.m3u8) (3:00)  _Published 2015-07-15. 2016 Candidates Speak Out On The Iran Deal_ by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Sep 3, 2015 10:09 PM UTC  U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech on the nuclear agreement with Iran, in Philadelphia on Sept. 2, 2015. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers a speech on the nuclear agreement with Iran, in Philadelphia on Sept. 2, 2015. Charles Mostoller—Reuters by [Joe Klein](https://time.com/author/joe-klein/) ## Joe Klein Sep 3, 2015 10:09 PM UTC The Iran deal will go forward. President Obama has a veto-proof minority in the Senate and, most likely, the House. That’s very good news for those of us who believe in creative diplomacy. The deal isn’t perfect. No negotiation ever is. And, in the end, it may not work–but the United States has plenty of ways to make Iran pay for any violations. Once the deal is signed, Iran is on the clock: it has to dismantle most of its program and turn over information on the program’s genesis to the IAEA by a date certain–probably sometime next spring. It will have to comply with a strict inspection regime thereafter. The most important question is whether Iran will make good on that pledge. But there are other questions that worry me. They have to do with the state of American Jewish leadership, and with the intrusion of domestic politics into foreign affairs. A few weeks ago, I predicted in a column that the Iran deal would become the foreign policy equivalent of Obamacare–Republicans would keep hammering it, even if they had no way to defeat it. This would be cynical and solipsistic; but I have absolutely no doubt that this is what the majority of Republicans will do. Next week, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and other Troglyditic all-stars will hold an anti-deal rally in Washington. Other circuses are sure to come. So here’s a question: will AIPAC, which has lost this issue in embarrassing fashion, and the Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, continue their noxious campaign to discredit the deal. AIPAC runs a real risk here. It has long portrayed itself as bipartisan, but it is, at this moment, on the cusp of being perceived as a neoconservative Republican operation. The risk is internal and external. Polls show that a majority of American Jews favor the deal, as they should. AIPAC’s strength in the past has been the illusion of unanimity: they claim to “represent” the Jewish community. But they have competition now. A more moderate Jewish organization called J Street has entered the fray. J Street is pro-Israel, but not obeisantly so. It is for the deal, and against the further expansion of the West Bank Settlements. No less a figure than former Secretary of State James Baker gave the keynote address at J Street’s annual meeting this year, making the case for the only reasonable outcome in the Middle East–a two-state solution. If AIPAC doesn’t reconsider its extremism, I can easily see a migration of the majority of American Jews–those who are still Democrats–toward J Street. This would be understandable, but a tragedy nonetheless for those of us who believe in the continued existence of the Jewish state. Israel can’t become a partisan issue in America, if it is to survive. There needs to be continuity, an enduring support for the historic American position–a two state solution, based on the 1967 borders, with agreed-upon land swaps. And there needs now to be a measured, realistic support for the nuclear deal with Iran. Instead of standing with the demagogue Netanyahu–and the show-boating Republicans–AIPAC should consider standing with the Israeli intelligence and military establishment, some of whom favor the deal and some of whom don’t but all of whom agree that now that it’s a done deal, there is a need for coordinated strategy. (70 former Israeli officials made this position public in a letter last month.) Sane Republicans should, too. Once the vote is taken, and the shouting is done, they should join with the courageous Brent Scowcroft, and David Petraeus, and other realists who recognize that there is much work to be done in the region to limit Iran’s power and shenanigans. So Klein, I can hear the bleaters say, how can you support the deal and still want to limit Iran’s power and shenanigans? It’s very simple, really: because the deal _limits_ Iran’s power for the next 15 years. It opens the possibility that Iran’s regime–which has mutual interests with the United States in the region, especially in Afghanistan–can be dragged into civilized society by a population hungry for goods, services…and the freedom to go to discos on Thursday night. (No kidding: in my discussions with young Iranians, that was item 1 on their agenda.) It will also allow the United States to take a more balanced stance in the Middle East, between the warring Sunni and Shi’ite sides. We will no longer be tied to Saudi Wahhabis who have been undermining our position in the region, and killing American troops through their surrogates, for decades. This position may not be in Israel’s best interests. Israel is on the cusp of finding common cause with the Saudis and with good reason–Iran’s emissaries, especially Hizballah, threaten both countries. But Israel’s best interests and ours, while almost identical, can be different. AIPAC has been playing a dangerous game, supporting what it perceives to be Israel’s best interests–I’m not sure an alliance with the shaky Saudis is such a good idea–while misapprehending those of the United States. I don’t believe the AIPAC leadership is consciously guilty of dual loyalty–a classic anti-Semitic canard–but I don’t believe they’ve been thinking very clearly, either. And if they continue with their noisome, often inaccurate and sometimes disgraceful opposition to this deal–if they maintain their alliance with the Republicans and continue to fight even after the game has ended–I suspect they will be inflicting a grievous wound on their organization. ### A Nation Eager to Be Heard: Iran by Newsha Tavakolian  Leaflets and campaign paraphernalia litter the floor of Heidarnia Stadium in Tehran after a rally just days before the presidential vote on June 14. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Yasaman Karimi, 23, at a rally in Tehran for Mohammed Reza Aref. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Iranian women at the 17th century shrine of Fatemeh Masoumeh in the holy Shiite city of Qum. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  A young woman in a car in the western part of Tehran, where mostly middle class families live. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  A poster of Ayatullah Ali Khamenei looms over Tehran's Enghelab Square. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Young Iranians hang out in the western part of Tehran, where mostly middle class families live. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  An Iranian teenager waiting to vote for the first time in his life. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Supporters of former vice president Mohammad Reza Aref, a day before he pulled out of the race to form a coalition with cleric Hassan Rouhani. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  A campaign rally for Saeed Jalili, Iran's nuclear negotiator, at a stadium in Tehran. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Supporters of Saeed Jalili chanted, "No compromise, no submission, only Jalili" and held up flags of the Lebanese Hezbollah organization at a campaign rally for him in Tehran before the election. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Supporters of Saeed Jalili at a campaign rally in Tehran. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Young Iranians in Western Tehran. The youth vote helped put Rouhani over the top. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Supporters of Mohammad Reza Aref on the day before the election. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME  Kian Rezaaei, 21, a supporter of Hassan Rouhani, helps get out the vote days before the presidential election. Newsha Tavakolian—Polaris for TIME ## Transcript Today, after two years of negotiations, the United States, together with our international partners, has achieved something that decades of animosity has not, a comprehensive long term deal With Iran, it will prevent it from obtaining a nuclear weapon. I think the president was on the right track at the very beginning when he said that the objective was to make sure that they didn't have the capability to build a nuclear bomb. Now we've legitimized Iran being a nuclear threshold county, and that in and of itself Creates huge instability in the reap. This is an important step in putting the lid on Iran's nuclear program. President's announcement yesterday is just another in the series of his lies. That when he said yesterday, that inspections will happen in Iran anytime, anywhere. The agreement itself undercuts the President's position. They are laughing at us back in Iran. And why didn't we get our prisoners back? Why doesn't somebody say, where are our prisoners? Nobody's even talking about it. We have four people in prison that shouldn't be. Why couldn't they make that part of the deal? Well, I think this is one of the biggest disasters of the Obama- Clinton doctrine out there. I mean, and as President, on my very first day going forward, I would pull back, I would terminate that bad deal with Iran completely on day one. I would then put in place crippling economic sanctions against Iran and I'd convince our allies to do the same. This is not a country we should be doing business [ CROSSTALK ]. Very promising, I have yet to read the 100 page agreement, but I believe, even have long believed, that a negotiated settlement is the best. Best path forward here, provided that it is verifiable, it's enforceable, we cut off all paths to Iran's ability to develop a nuclear weapon. So I think there's a lot of promise here, and hopefully it is the beginning of a new day. They're going to get eighteen billion dollars under this deal, what do you think they're going to do with the money? They're going to put it in their war machine. This is a death sentence for the state of Israel if this does not change, because you're ensuring the Ayatollah will get a nuclear weapon. He doesn't want a power plant. He wants a bomb. The Iranians came to the negotiating table, if you will, in a very weakened state. And they are gonna leave with billions, hundreds of billions of dollars. The ability to project terror which they are the chief sponsor of terror. We've legitimized- With that I applaud the President, Secretary Kerry for their efforts. In a very crazy and dangerous world to create an agreement with Iran which prevents Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. This is a huge breakthrough. Obviously, the devil is in the details. All of us are going to study those details. But this is clearly a major step forward. The point is there's lots of reason to be suspicious here. There's lots of reason for Congress to really look at this and having, look I've never negotiated an Iranian nuclear deal, but I've negotiated a lot of high stakes deals and there are a couple rules, and every rule has been broken. 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