Samantha Power: If the U.S. Rejects the Nuclear Agreement, It Will Become Isolated in the World

Samantha Power, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, has warned that if Congress rejects the nuclear agreement with Iran, the United States will become "isolated in the world and its influence will diminish." In a note published on Wednesday, August 25, on the Politico website, Power cautioned that a negative vote from Congress on this agreement would make it difficult for the U.S. government to garner support for sanctions against Iran. According to the French news agency, the U.S. representative at the UN added, "If the United States rejects this agreement, we will immediately isolate ourselves from the countries that have worked with us over the past two years to reach the most difficult provisions of it." Samantha Power emphasized that in this case, "we will go from a situation where Iran is isolated to a situation where the U.S. will be isolated." Iran, the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia reached an agreement on July 14 after about ten years of negotiations to resolve the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. Under this agreement, Iran will reduce a significant portion of its nuclear program and accept extraordinary oversight, and in return, international sanctions against it will be halted or lifted. However, this agreement has many opponents, especially in the U.S. Congress. The U.S. Congress, which consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives, has until September 17 (September 26) to reject or approve the nuclear agreement between the Islamic Republic and the world powers. The majority of Congress is held by Republicans who have expressed their opposition to this agreement, but President Barack Obama has warned that he will veto Congress's opposition to the agreement. However, opponents of the nuclear agreement have a way to nullify Barack Obama's veto power: at least 67 out of 100 Senate members and 290 out of 435 House members must vote against the nuclear agreement.