<\/a><\/p>\nAs a top Middle East official at the Pentagon and Biden\u2019s national security adviser during the Obama administration, Kahl helped shape the nuclear pact known formally as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The deal, simply put, had the US lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for severe curbs on Tehran\u2019s nuclear work. <\/p>\n
Out of government, Kahl spent time blasting the Trump administration\u2019s 2018 decision to withdraw from the agreement in pursuit of a maximum pressure policy toward Iran.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis a dangerous delusion,\u201d Kahl wrote in a 2018 Foreign Affairs article. The Trump administration believed they could \u201cforce Iran to accept a better deal\u2014one that eliminates the JCPOA\u2019s sunset clauses, dismantles a significant portion of Iran\u2019s ballistic missile arsenal, ends Iranian support for terrorism and regional militancy, and addresses the regime\u2019s systematic violation of human rights at home.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cIt won\u2019t,\u201d Kahl continued. \u201cTrump may hope to isolate Tehran, but it is Washington that finds itself largely alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kahl\u2019s advocacy, and general Democratic support for the nuclear accord, has rankled Republicans for the past six years. Their overall view is that the Iran deal made Tehran stronger after sanctions were lifted, and that it did nothing to curtail the regime\u2019s support for terrorist groups or its missile program. <\/p>\n
In myriad conversations I\u2019ve had, congressional Republicans cite these and other reasons for why they\u2019re skeptical of Kahl\u2019s nomination. (They also note Kahl was at the Pentagon serving in a key Middle East policy position when ISIS surged in Iraq in 2015, shortly after US troops left the country.)<\/p>\n
But Democrats, including top members of the Biden administration, say the JCPOA was a targeted accord that put Iran\u2019s nuclear work \u201cin a box.\u201d Only then, with the threat of Iran acquiring a nuclear weapon off the table, could the US begin to try to convince Tehran to end the other aggressive aspects of its foreign policy.<\/p>\n
The general belief was that the Biden administration would work quickly to rejoin the deal, especially since the president promised America\u2019s reentry on his watch. But so far the US has been cagey in the process, holding firm that it won\u2019t lift sanctions Trump reimposed until Iran stops enriching uranium beyond the pact\u2019s caps.<\/p>\n
Experts say that\u2019s for two reasons. One is a clear-eyed assessment by Biden\u2019s team that it can\u2019t just lift financial penalties and hope Iran comes back into compliance with the accord, though they\u2019re willing to talk to Tehran about a way forward. The other is that holding firm signals to Republicans that the Democrats in charge aren\u2019t too eager to rejoin the agreement. <\/p>\n
That underscores just how rancorous the policy debate over that issue remains and how the yawning gap between the two parties will continue to color America\u2019s Iran policy in the years to come.<\/p>\n
Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI), the Senate Armed Services Committee chair, told reporters on Wednesday that he\u2019s \u201chopeful\u201d Kahl can get through the confirmation process. \u201cThe committee hearing will be absolutely critical and crucial because he\u2019ll have an opportunity to explain his positions, and then my colleagues will make a judgment.\u201d<\/p>\n
But that judgment won\u2019t be about Kahl personally or his experience to do the job. It\u2019ll be about what he represents.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Joe Biden\u2019s pick to be the third-highest civilian leader at the Pentagon is already facing a tough confirmation challenge a week before his hearing \u2014 and it\u2019s mostly because he staunchly supports the Iran nuclear deal. A spokesperson for Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK), the ranking member on the Senate Armed Services Committee, told me…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10382","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10382"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10382\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/googmn.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}