Scholar: Nuclear deal should top Obama's priorities

New York, Nov 12, IRNA - Director of Middle East Program at the Institute of World Affairs Judith Kipper has said reaching a comprehensive nuclear agreement with Iran should be considered the first priority of the administration of US President Barack Obama. Speaking to IRNA in an exclusive interview, Kipper said President Obama and his team should be able to convince Republicans through political measures that reaching an inclusive deal with Iran would play a key role in maintaining US national interests regardless of its other massive and positive effects on the Middle East region. However, she predicted that Republican congressmen would actively oppose the policy of President Obama on reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, according to Kipper, is more or less facing the same challenges as his US counterpart and is in a similar position. The Iranian president, too, should assure his opponents through political reasoning that sabotaging attempts to reach a comprehensive nuclear deal will be against national interests of the Iranian nation, said the American scholar./end