Before taking questions about her State Department emails in a press conference, Hillary Clinton came to Barack Obama’s defense against Republican critics of talks with Iran.
“Reasonable people can disagree” about Obama’s ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran, the former secretary of state said. “But the recent letter from Republican senators was out of step from the best traditions of American leadership.”
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Clinton was referring to a letter authored by Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ar.) and signed by 46 other Republican senators warning Iran’s leaders that any agreement they strike with Obama can be undone “with the stroke of a pen.”
“Either these senators were trying to be helpful to the Iranians — or harmful to the commander-in-chief,” she added. “Either answer does discredit to the letter’s signatories.”
Her comments echoed the response of the president himself, who said Monday that “some members of Congress [want] to make common cause with the hard-liners in Iran.
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Clinton has long been supportive of Obama’s nuclear talks with Iran, which began in 2012 with secret contacts involving two of her top deputies while she was secretary of state. Under the emerging deal with the United States and five other countries, Iran would agree to curbs on its nuclear program in return for an eventual lifting of economic sanctions.
“So long as Iran remains a sponsor of terrorism and a threat to global security, we will have to remain vigilant in defense of our allies and partners, including Israel,” Clinton wrote in a January letter to a former Senate colleague. “Yet I have no doubt that this is the time to give our diplomacy the space to work.”
Clinton spoke during a briefing for reporters at the United States, where she fielded questions about her use of a personal email account during her tenure at the State Department.
