Iran has been a hot topic lately in Washington, owing largely to the Obama administration slowly thawing its relationship with the Iranian leadership. The discussion has been circling around whether President Obama will reach a nuclear deal with Iran that will release the stranglehold of sanctions that the United States currently imposes on the country.
Vigorous protest to the resumption of any kind of diplomatic relationship has come from many political voices, but the debate took an unprecedented turn this past week when 47 Republican Senators subverted President Obama’s negotiations by issuing an open letter directly to the Iranian leadership.
The brief and condescending letter endeavored to “explain” American democracy to the Islamic nation, threatening that any agreement that President Obama reached with Iran could be swiftly overturned by a future Republican president. The move was poorly received by irate Washington Democrats, but is also gaining critical attention from citizens across the country. Concerned citizens have accused the group of Republican signatories with committing an act of treason.
A petition on the White House’s website was created to charge the Senators with violating the Logan Act, a federal law created in 1799 that disallows any citizen to correspond with a foreign government with “the intent to influence the measures or conduct of any foreign government… in relation to any disputes or controversies with the United States.”
The petition has currently topped 270,000 signatories, which is well beyond the requisite 100,000 signatures needed to trigger a White House response.