Former top Obama, Bush advisers warn against weak Iran nuclear deal

On Tuesday, Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei staked out a hard line on a final Iran nuclear agreement being negotiated by Tehran, the U.S., and five other nations. On Wednesday, it was America's turn. A group of prominent U.S. security and diplomatic figures delivered an open letter to the White House and State Department warning that the emerging final deal "may fall short of meeting the administration's own standard of a 'good' agreement."

The letter, organized by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy think tank, offers a roster of minimum requirement for a final nuclear deal, many of which appear to contradict Khamenei's red lines. The U.S. negotiators should worry less about the June 30 deadline and focus more on "getting it right," Dennis Ross, Obama's former top Iran adviser and one of the signatories, tells Reuters. "The Iranians must understand that we will catch them if they cheat and that the price will be high even for lesser transgressions.... And, they must know that we will not permit them to have a weapons capability."

Other signatories include former CIA Director David Petraeus; Robert Einhorn, a nuclear proliferation expert and member of Obama's first-term Iran negotiating team; retired Gen. James Cartwright, former Obama vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and Gary Samore, Obama's former top nuclear policy adviser. There are also several Republicans from George W. Bush's presidency, most prominently former National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley.

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When asked to comment on the letter, a senior Obama administration official told The New York Times that content-wise, it "in large part tracks with the U.S. negotiating position inside the negotiating room." All the signatories are in favor of a negotiated Iran deal, assuming it meets their criteria.