Time for Congress to back Iran deal

The nuclear deal brokered by the United States and Iran in Geneva is historic. Just as the agreement to peacefully disarm Syria of its chemical weapons demonstrated, diplomacy makes the world a safer place.

Now comes the hard part: U.S. diplomats are working to secure a final agreement to prevent war and a nuclear-armed Iran. I hope Sens. Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin and Rep. Dave Loebsack will publicly support these efforts and oppose calls by some in Congress for more sanctions.

As former national security advisers Zbigniew Brzezinski and Brent Scowcroft have pointed out, “additional sanctions now against Iran ... will risk undermining or even shutting down the negotiations.” Sabotaging diplomacy would jeopardize the unprecedented progress our diplomats have achieved to guard against yet another war and nuclear-armed nation.

The Friends Committee on National Legislation has more on supporting this unprecedented deal: fcnl.org/iran.

Don Laughlin

Iowa City