National Security Adviser Susan Rice said yesterday that new sanctions on Iran would “blow up” the negotiations between the US and Iran over nuclear enrichment. Yes but who is pushing them for the new Congress?

Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council sent out this email today, saying the US and Iran are closer than ever to a deal but the Israel lobby group AIPAC is trying to put the kibosh on it.

The new Republican Senate Majority Leader has committed to imposing new sanctions, and AIPAC is using the extension of nuclear talks as an excuse to renew their push for more punishing sanctions…But thanks to the changes in the Senate, AIPAC is now closer than ever to securing enough votes to end this opportunity for reconciliation between the U.S. and Iran by overriding the President’s veto powers and imposing sanctions. Have no doubt – these sanctions would “blow up” the negotiations, as U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice said just yesterday. We defeated AIPAC earlier this year, despite being outspent more than 9 to 1, and we can do it again.

Here’s AIPAC’s statement calling for more sanctions now:

It is now essential that Congress take up new bipartisan sanctions legislation to let Tehran know that it will face much more severe pressure if it does not clearly abandon its nuclear weapons program. We urge Congress to play its traditional and critical role to ensure that a final agreement truly eliminates any path for Iran to build a nuclear weapon.

AIPAC has been a mouthpiece for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu‘s tireless talking points on this question. The lobby group has been hard at it in the weeks since the midterm election: “Iran sustains anti-western ethos” whatever that means.

And speaking of Netanyahu’s mouthpieces, The Times of Israel reports on a survey by Frank Luntz (who has been propagandizing for Israel post-Gaza) saying that Americans are more on Netanyahu’s side than President Obama’s on the Iran question:

The survey also showed 62% of Americans consider that Iran is an enemy of the US, while 37% consider it neutral, and 1% consider it an ally. It found that 73% of Americans consider that Iran is an enemy of Israel, while 25% consider it neutral, and 1% consider it an ally. A staggering 81% of respondents do not believe the current government in Iran can be trusted to keep agreements, compared to 5% who think it can be trusted. And an even more overwhelming 85% do not believe the Iranians’ assertions that their nuclear program is peaceful, as compared to 8% who do. “When it comes to Iran, the Israeli prime minister is closer to the American people than the US president,” Luntz said of the findings. This was a reference to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s call for any deal with Iran to provide for the dismantling of Iran’s entire nuclear weapons capability, while US President Barack Obama has indicated willingness for a deal which would allow Iran to maintain a strictly supervised capacity to enrich uranium.

A year ago Frank Luntz did virtually the same survey, showing that Americans regard Iran as the greatest threat to the U.S. by 69 to 34/33/30/28 (Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria).