Just slip a new Iran deal past Congress? Slow Joe, No!

If it looks like a deal, and smells like a deal, then Congress has the power to reject it. That is the message lawmakers are sending the White House as administration officials try to strike a new bargain with Iran over its nuclear program. President Joe Biden should pay heed, or risk making the same mistakes as his two predecessors — and doom any agreement to failure.

After indirect parleys through Oman, the Biden team has agreed to release payments owed to the Islamic Republic that have long been frozen by sanctions. Officials with knowledge of the negotiations have said Tehran has in turn agreed to free three Americans wrongfully detained in Iranian prisons, as it did three Europeans earlier this month. The ransom for the hostages may be in the region of $10 billion, in the form of sanctions waivers that allow Iraq to pay about $2.7 billion it owes Iran for natural-gas shipments, and South Korea to transfer $7 billion for previous oil purchases.

More significantly, the U.S. is offering Iran the opportunity to export more oil if it will limit its uranium-enrichment levels and cooperate more fully with United Nations nuclear monitors. But the Biden administration is leery of using the "D" word to describe such a bargain. "Rumors about a nuclear deal, interim or otherwise, are false and misleading," State Department spokesman Matthew Miller told journalists recently. "Our position on the question has not changed."

In briefings with journalists, official have used expressions like "mini-agreement" and "interim arrangement." But this is too cute by half and fools nobody. Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, knows a deal when he sees one; he has told his officials that they can go ahead and make an agreement, providing the regime gets to keep its nuclear infrastructure. So does Benjamin Netanyahu, prime minister of Israel, the country with the most to fear from an unshackled Iran. He has told the Biden administration that he opposes "mini-agreements."

What's in a word? The answer: Congressional oversight. The Biden folks know that any deal with the Islamic Republic would need to be submitted to the legislative branch, where it would meet substantial bipartisan opposition from lawmakers who want tighter restraints on Iran. Surmounting such resistance would require the investment of political capital by a president who must husband what little he has for a long reelection campaign.

The nub is the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which was passed in 2015, just as the U.S. and other world powers were putting the finishing touches on the deal with Iran, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Having bypassed Congress in making that deal, President Barack Obama agreed to let lawmakers review the terms after the fact. Obama's egregious misuse of executive power allowed his successor, Donald Trump, to torch the deal three years later.

Transparent as it is, the administration's ruse reflects poorly on Biden. Presidents ignoring Congress on Iran policy is what brought us to this sorry pass in the first place.

Under the nuclear review act, the White House is required to periodically reassure Congress that Iran is keeping its end of the bargain. But the law also obliges the president to present before Congress any new or amended deal pertaining to Iran's nuclear program. The lawmakers would then have a 30-day review period, and the opportunity to vote it down.

A few weeks ago, the Biden administration reassured Congress that it would abide by the provisions of Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act and submit any new deal with Iran for review and approval. But officials now hope they can avoid this scrutiny if they can plausibly deny that a new deal is being made.

Nice try. Representative Michael McCaul, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, wrote to the White House expressing concern about the latest talks and demanding that the administration submit "any arrangement or understanding" to Congress for review. Not all who disapprove are Republicans like McCaul: Plenty of Democrats in both houses are skeptical about making any kind of deal with Iran.

The most prominent of them, Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey, has suggested that the Biden administration's outreach to Iran is "a good masquerade game." He would be mighty upset to learn that the White House isn't just playing.

If Biden feels a new deal is the right course, he should have the courage to run it through the Congressional gantlet. If he cannot do that, the president, himself a veteran of the legislative branch, should reflect on whether a deal that can't bear the scrutiny of lawmakers is worth pursuing at all.

(COMMENT, BELOW)

Bobby Ghosh is an Indian-born American journalist and commentator. He is a columnist and member of the editorial board at Bloomberg Opinion, writing on foreign affairs, with a special focus on the Middle East and the wider Islamic world. Starting in 2016, Ghosh was editor-in-chief of the Hindustan Times and TIME Magazine's World Editor.

Previously:
• 06/07/23: US doesn't need Saudi Arabia to sign the Abraham Accords
• 06/01/23: Erdogan won't change, and neither should Biden
• 03/13/23: Turkey's Erdogan is poised for a third decade in power
• 03/13/23: Iran's regime is already a big loser at the World Cup
• 11/25/22: Iran's regime is already a big loser at the World Cup
• 10/07/22: What Biden should make of Erdogan's bluster
• 10/07/22: Iran's ruler faces a formidable new foe --- schoolgirls
• 08/15/22: Bolton plot should be a warning on Iran nuclear talks
• 07/06/22: Erdogan missed a big opportunity with NATO
• 06/13/22: Iran has overplayed its hand in nuclear talks
• 05/25/22: 'Slow Joe' is missing an opportunity to put pressure on Iran
• 05/12/22: Erdogan's outreach to neighbors has one problem: Erdogan
• 05/05/22: The U.S. risks paying a high price for a nuclear deal with Iran
• 04/21/22: Yemen truce is good news for the wider world
• 03/23/22: The world's deadliest war isn't in Ukraine, but in Ethiopia
• 03/11/22: The Dems just doesn't understand Iran's regime
• 03/11/22: In the nuclear face-off with Iran, Biden just blinked
• 01/20/22: So, Trump is responsible for Iran's aggressive behavior?
• 01/18/22: THE SECRET'S OUT: Iran's economic resilience is mostly a mirage
• 01/07/22: Biden must hold Ethiopia's Abiy accountable
• 12/29/21: Fraying Saudi-UAE ties put U.S. objectives at risk
• 11/30/21: Iran demonstrates it isn't serious about nuclear talks
• 11/03/21: To negotiate with the Taliban, bring women to the table
• 10/11/21: Iraq's leader is betting on a hung parliament to retain power
• 09/27/21: A coup fails in Sudan but its fragile democracy remains at risk
• 09/13/21: The Taliban caretakers will keep the neighbors up
• 08/30/21: Trusting the Taliban to fight Islamic State
• 08/23/21: What will the Taliban do with a $22 billion economy?
• 07/28/21: The first and now the last best hope of the Arab Spring is at risk
• 07/15/21: No joy for Iran over the Taliban romp next door
• 07/07/21: Why Macron and Erdogan are suddenly playing nice
• 06/17/21: Iran's election is all about Supreme Leader's toxic legacy
• 08/17/20: Macron's muscle-flexing will make Mediterranean tensions worse
• 08/06/20: Beirut explosions create a dilemma for the world
• 06/25/20: Egypt's el-Sissi suffers a stunning reversal of fortunes
• 05/05/20: The Saudis' defacto leader is stuck exactly where Trump wants him
• 04/20/20: Trump is right to block IMF aid for Iran
• 02/17/20: Algeria wants a role in Libya that it can't afford
• 02/06/20: Iraq's new prime minister may not last long
• 01/27/20: Libya deal is a gentleman's bargain between rogues
• 01/20/20: Europe's lack of resolve is revealing --- to Iran
• 01/14/20: Iran isn't facing a 'Chernobyl moment'