To the editor:
Stephen R. Heifetz' op-ed, "Sanctions Worked, Congress. Let them Die," is essentially an argument promoting an imperial presidency, something we wisely rejected by inserting a system of checks and balances into the Constitution.
Particularly peculiar is his call for an established waiver authority that would ensure "the president could quickly reward a foreign country for behavior that we seek - sustained Iranian compliance with the nuclear deal, for example."
By its nature, "sustained compliance" is long-term, calling for slow and measured rewards. One of the many fatal flaws of the deal with Iran is that it eliminates all our leverage by quickly rewarding Iran long before that country has demonstrated sustained compliance.
Congress needs to give diplomacy another chance, by rejecting the fatally flawed JCPOA which makes our world more dangerous, so that our executive branch can try to negotiate an agreement that makes the world safer.
Sincerely,
Alan Stein