B² Iran Negotiations

With an end-of-March deadline, the showdown between U.S. and Iranian negotiators heats up.

This regime is very good at negotiating and many believe is getting everything it wants. On Monday, Iranian lawmakers “overwhelmingly demanded the removal of all sanctions against the country as a prerequisite for the implementation of any comprehensive nuclear deal.” With the Iranian government and lawmakers in lockstep, the only way U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry gets a deal is to kowtow.

Add to that the back-and-forth between the White House and Congress over tactics, and, well, it gets messy.

The White House has openly criticized the letter sent by nearly four-dozen Republican senators warning Iran’s Ayatollah of negotiating with a lame duck President. On the other side, those who argue for maintaining the strength of executive authority risk establishing a new precedent for negotiating nuclear arms deals without Congressional assent.

Both groups need a media response to the Administration’s expected announcement.

Good thing it’s Tuesday, B² day.

Here’s this week’s likely media question and the B² (block and bridge) that sets the narrative straight:

Q: “Are you in favor of Congress asserting their power to approve a potential unilateral nuclear deal with Iran by President Obama or should we respect the president’s executive authority?

A: “Regardless of tactics, history proves that executive authority is best maintained when Congress is kept in the loop, especially with a negotiation of this magnitude. Therefore, <insert talking point>.”

Wherever you take the narrative next, your message should acknowledge the seriousness of the negotiations and refrain from any suggestion that this might be yet another power struggle between the White House and Congress.

Don’t talk tactics. Instead, focus on the narrative of what Iranian policy should be.