Readers weigh in on nuclear pact with Iran

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Engel is wrong

To the editor:

I take great exception with Rep. Eliot Engel’s article on “Why I’m opposing the Iran deal”. (Aug. 13). President Barack Obama’s stated objective in the Iran deal is setting back Iran’s ability to develop a nuclear weapon for 15+ years. This is not a perfect deal. There is no such thing as a perfect deal. By their very nature, negotiations involve “give and take.” Neither side gets everything it wants. For Iran to accept a deal, it had to get something. Mr. Engel complains about what Iran got.  Perhaps he would only be satisfied if the deal “brought Iran to its knees.”

Mr. Engel totally ignores the hard question of what would be a better approach. He says “a negotiated solution is the best course of action.” Our negotiators have been at this for years. This is the best deal they could get. And notwithstanding Mr. Engel’s valid points, lots of nuclear and military experts in the U.S. and Israel feel this deal is a good one.

If the U.S. were to reject this deal in the hope of negotiating a better deal, the likely result is that we would lose the carefully-nurtured support we have gotten from our European allies, China and Russia. In creating the current sanctions, these countries have had to make economic sacrifices. To expect them to agree to continue these sanctions as we attempt to negotiate a better deal is sheer folly.

Herb Kaplan

Food for thought

To the editor:

There has been much hysteria concerning the debate over the Iranian nuclear deal, with many facts being left out of the discussion.

The reason there even is a radical Islamist regime in Iran is a direct result of U.S. policy. By 1953, Iran had been ruled for two years by a popular prime minister, Mohammad Mosaddegh. But in his first year of rule, he nationalized Iran’s oil in response to the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company’s refusal to let him audit their books.

By 1953, the United States had a president, Dwight Eisenhower, who was willing to use the CIA to engineer a military coup and install the shah as our lackey dictator. By 1979, many Iranians who never wanted the shah overthrew him and installed the regime that still rules.

Iran, nuclear deal, Eliot Engel, Herb Kaplan, Richard Warren, Don McNeill, Gerson Lesser
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