John McCain: Republicans Stand Behind Letter to Iranian Leaders

John McCain, the senior Republican senator from the United States, emphasized on Thursday, March 12, that Republicans are standing behind the letter from 47 senators to the leaders of the Islamic Republic. In an interview with Reuters published on Thursday, Mr. McCain acknowledged that it would have been better for Republican senators to spend more time discussing the letter to Iranian leaders, but he also stressed that he has 'no regrets' about the letter's release. John McCain, who was Barack Obama's opponent in the 2008 presidential election, stated: 'I firmly believe I should have signed the letter, and I think this message needed to be sent.' A week prior, 47 Republican senators issued an open letter to Iranian leaders warning that any nuclear agreement with the U.S. government, without congressional approval, would not last beyond President Obama's administration. According to these senators, the next U.S. president 'could immediately nullify this executive agreement, and the next Congress could change the provisions of this agreement at any time.' This letter faced sharp criticism from the U.S. president and vice president, the leader and foreign minister of the Islamic Republic, and several international figures involved in nuclear negotiations with Iran. Besides Senator McCain, who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Lindsey Graham, another senior Republican senator, also defended the letter to Iranian leaders. Mr. Graham told the Obama administration: 'We will not allow you to tell us that we cannot have an opinion on lifting sanctions that we imposed ourselves.' Senator Mark Kirk, another Republican leader in Congress and one of the main architects of the sanctions against Iran, also firmly defended the letter to the Islamic Republic's leaders. In this context, Zarif criticized the letter from Republican senators for the second time, Hillary Clinton criticized the letter from Republican senators, John Kerry stated that Congress would not have the authority to change the Iran-U.S. nuclear agreement, and the leader of the Islamic Republic criticized the letter from American senators. Germany stated that the letter from Republican senators would affect negotiations with Iran.