Even if Obama Wins an Iran Nuclear Deal in Vienna, Can He Sell It at Home?

It might be too much to say that President Barack Obama’s administration went nuclear last month on a New York Times story suggesting that Iran was reneging on a tentative deal to freeze its uranium enrichment program. But the June 3 report was, at the least, roundly blasted by the State Department’s top spokeswoman on the Iran negotiations, Marie Harf.

“I will say our team read that story this morning and was, quite frankly, perplexed, because the main contentions of it are just totally inaccurate,” Harf said in a televised press briefing later that day from the State Department. She further piled on against the story in a series of scathing tweets and, even now, is unapologetic about her combative tone.

The rapid-fire attacks convey the high stakes riding on the nuclear talks and the White House’s hair-trigger sensitivity over any suggestion that it is caving into Iranian negotiators.

Read the full article at Foreign Policy.