[But supporters and critics alike say Mr.
Obama must go much further by detailing how the United States and other world
powers intend to enforce and monitor the nuclear agreement as Iran begins to
dismantle centrifuges and open facilities to inspectors. And they say he needs
to develop a comprehensive approach to countering Iran ’s support for terrorist and rebel groups in
the Middle East .]
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WASHINGTON — Having beaten back a congressional campaign
to derail his nuclear agreement with Iran, President Obama now faces a panoply of challenges that
may be just as daunting: making the deal actually work while repairing
relations with disaffected allies and constraining Tehran’s regional ambitions.
He
got started Friday even as the House was still voting by announcing that he
would host Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel at the White House in November. The
session will offer an opportunity for the estranged leaders to clear the air
after a bitter and starkly partisan debate over the merits of the Iran deal and the depth of American
commitment to Israeli security.
The
president will use the meeting to renew a longstanding offer of more military
aid to bolster Israel ’s defenses as Iran receives tens of billions of dollars in
sanctions relief from the nuclear accord — money that the prime minister has
argued will go directly to funding terrorism against his country. Until now,
Mr. Netanyahu has refused to talk about strengthened security cooperation to
avoid looking as if he were accepting the Iran deal.
But
supporters and critics alike say Mr. Obama must go much further by detailing
how the United States and other world powers intend to enforce and monitor the
nuclear agreement as Iran begins to dismantle centrifuges and open facilities
to inspectors. And they say he needs to develop a comprehensive approach to
countering Iran ’s support for terrorist and rebel groups in
the Middle East .
“The
deal has to now be embedded in a larger Iran strategy, and that is key to re-engaging and
reinvigorating with allies and partners in the region,” said Michèle A.
Flournoy, a former under secretary of defense for Mr. Obama and now chief
executive of the Center for a New American Security in Washington .
The
message from Mr. Obama, she added, should be “O.K., the nuclear piece, whether
you were thrilled about it or not, is in place, but how are we going to work
together to counter and deter Iran’s other activities in the region and its
support for terrorism, and how are we going to reassure you with respect to
your security?”
Mr.
Obama tried on Friday to move past the heated congressional battle that
climaxed with Thursday’s Senate vote in which opponents of the deal won a
majority, but not enough to overcome a filibuster. House Republicans, joined by 25
Democrats, voted down a measure to approve the deal on Friday, but the vote was
purely symbolic because the president can move ahead with its terms on his own.
Republican
critics in Congress plan to advance other measures to try to limit his ability
to lift sanctions as part of the agreement, but they face an uphill climb in
the Senate, where they do not seem to have enough votes to override an Obama
veto.
Still, Republican presidential candidates on
the campaign trail will keep the issue alive as they pound away against a deal
they call dangerous and naïve. And Democrats who voted for the deal while
expressing deep reservations may be looking for a way to take actions
countering Iran .
“The issue is
still out there,” said Dennis Ross, a former Middle East adviser to Mr. Obama and other presidents
who is now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “The concerns they
have about Iran are still out there, and so you look for
ways to address those concerns.”
In
a written statement on Friday, Mr. Obama thanked those Democrats who stood with
him and pointed to the tasks ahead. “Now we must turn to the critical work of
implementing and verifying this deal so that Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon,” he said.
“In doing so, we’ll write the latest chapter of American leadership in the
pursuit of a safer, more hopeful world.”
The
agreement will be formally adopted on Oct. 19, and in the months to come Iran must begin to disassemble and store more than
13,000 centrifuges and reduce its stockpile of low-enriched uranium by 98
percent; convert its underground Fordo enrichment facility to a research
center; and disable the core of its heavy-water reactor at Arak . Once initial steps are complete, the United States and Europe will begin to lift sanctions and begin
granting Iran access to frozen funds.
Gary Samore, a former arms control adviser to
Mr. Obama, said Iran had a strong incentive to carry out the necessary steps in
the next few months, but it could be complicated by internal politics. With
parliamentary elections set for February, he said, President Hassan Rouhani has
an incentive to work fast to show benefits from the agreement, while
hard-liners may want to drag out the process so he cannot claim credit.
Moreover, Mr. Samore said, there are already
signs that Iran is supporting Hezbollah as it sets up a new
position in southern Syria from which Israel fears new rocket attacks. The president, he
said, needs to find a way to counter such actions. “There are things we can do
in the next few months to demonstrate that Iran’s ability to exploit the
nuclear deal to expand its influence is very limited,” said Mr. Samore, who is
now at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs at Harvard University.
Mark
Wallace, a former Bush administration diplomat who is now chief executive of
United Against Nuclear Iran, an advocacy group that opposed the nuclear deal,
said Mr. Obama should still discourage American companies from rushing into Iran just because some sanctions are to be
lifted. “The United States and its allies need to send a message that
just because we’re lifting sanctions in the nuclear area does not mean that Iran is open for business,” he said.
Without
waiting for Congress, Mr. Obama has already begun working to bolster the
security of Persian
Gulf allies that
were leery of the deal, including Saudi Arabia , whose King Salman met with Mr. Obama here
last week. But less clear is the future of the relationship between Mr. Obama
and Mr. Netanyahu, which was never close and then ruptured into acrimony this
year over the Iran agreement.
Josh
Earnest, the White House press secretary, said Mr. Obama hoped to restart
conversations on more security assistance for Israel . “The president has indicated on a number of
occasions his desire to begin consultations with our Israeli allies about how
to further deepen that cooperation,” he said. “We’re looking forward to doing
that.”
Mr.
Samore said Mr. Netanyahu may still not accept defeat and may continue to work
with Republicans to undermine the deal. On the other hand, he said, the Israeli
prime minister may decide to extract the most he can out of Mr. Obama in his
last 16 months in office.
“They’re never going to embrace and be good
friends,” Mr. Samore said. “That’ll never happen. But the implication is
they’ll at least try to achieve an agreement” on security cooperation “or at
least find enough common ground to make sure it isn’t a contentious meeting.”