Ambassador Power: Rejected Iran Deal Will Isolate U.S.

The United States Ambassador to the United Nations, Samantha Power, this week published an op-ed in Politico warning Congress that if they reject the Iran nuclear deal, America would be isolated on the world stage and lose the crux of its influence.

If the United States rejects this deal, we would instantly isolate ourselves from countries that spent nearly two years working with American negotiators to hammer out its toughest provisions… So if we walk away, there is no diplomatic door number two. No do over. No rewrite of the deal on the table. We would go from a situation in which Iran is isolated to one in which the United States is isolated.

Power continues to suggest that rejecting the deal would undermine America’s ability to implement sanctions in other circumstances and would make the United States appear like “a superpower intent on inflicting pain for its own sake.”

President Barack Obama has long employed a strategy of isolationism on the world stage, which critics have argued to be a catalyst for the U.S. being perceived as weak with regard to foreign policy and national security matters.

Yet, Power suggests that it is a “no” vote from Congress that will burden America with this image. “If Congress rejects the deal, we will project globally an America that is internally divided, unreliable and dismissive of the views of those with whom we built Iran’s sanctions architecture in the first place.”

Congress is due to vote on September 17. Republicans are likely to vote “no” on the deal, although a growing number of ranking Democrats have also joined, including Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Rep. Carolyn Maloney (D-NY), Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), and Rep. Juan Vargas (D-CA), among several others.

Even if Congress does reject the deal, Obama can still use his “executive power” to implement it; a consistent theme throughout his presidency. The Iran deal is also largely viewed as a way for him to secure his legacy, going so far as getting a deal at any cost.

Follow Adelle Nazarian on Twitter @AdelleNaz and on Facebook.