David Cameron's Iran lobbying effort fails to sway Republicans

David Cameron appears to have failed in his effort to personally lobby US senators on Iran, with one Republican saying the prime minister's intervention into American politics was "not a productive move".

Mr Cameron spent part of his trip to Washington last week working the phones with members of Congress and urging them not to move ahead with a bill that could trigger new sanctions against Iran.

The prime minister warned that even the threat of fresh sanctions could lead to the breakdown of the delicate nuclear negotiations going on in Geneva between Iran and a six-nation bloc that includes Britain and the US.

His unusually direct involvement in US politics appears to have been in vain however as Republican senators he tried to lobby told The Telegraph they were not swayed by his argument.

The episode illustrates how relatively little clout Britain has with the Republicans who now control Congress, especially when compared with Israel - the other nation with which the US is said to have "a special relationship".

While Mr Cameron's case on Iran was largely brushed off by Republicans, Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has been invited to Congress next month to give a major speech urging the US to take a more hawkish approach to the Shia state.

During his visit to the US capital last week, Mr Cameron called John McCain, the former Republican presidential candidate and now the chair of the Senate armed services committee.

He told Mr McCain he was opposed to a bill working its way through Congress that would automatically bring new sanctions on Iran if no agreement is reached by the July deadline for talks to finish.

Asked if Mr Cameron had changed his mind about the sanctions bill, Mr McCain said simply: "No."

"He called me and told me that he believed that if we did sanctions it would blow [the negotiations] up. I said: 'do you realise that it's only if the talks fail?' and we went back and forth," Mr McCain said.

Mr Cameron also tried to reach Mark Kirk, the Republican senator who co-wrote the new sanctions bill, but was unable to reach him.

Mr Kirk said he was surprised to learn about Mr Cameron's lobbying phone calls, which were set up by Wendy Sherman, the lead US negotiator on the Iran talks.

"I was surprised. I felt that when Wendy Sherman set that up it was probably not a productive move," Mr Kirk said, adding that he planned to move ahead with the legislation despite Mr Cameron's objections.

Mr Cameron also spoke to Bob Corker, the Republican chair of the Senate foreign affairs committee. Mr Corker said he noted the prime minister's position but would not say if he would oppose the bill as a result.

Mark Dubowitz, the head of the Foundation for the Defence of Democracies, a hawkish think tanks that supports aggressive measures against Iran, said Mr Cameron's intervention did not appear to have changed the argument on Capitol Hill.

"Senators don’t seem to be persuaded by David Cameron, who they perceive to be even further to the Left than the Obama administration on Iran," he said.

In his press conference with President Barack Obama last week, Mr Cameron insisted he was not trying "to tell the American Senate what it should or shouldn’t do" but instead trying to show senators "it’s the opinion of the United Kingdom that further sanctions or further threat of sanctions at this point won’t actually help to bring the talks to a successful conclusion".

The sanctions bill opposed by Mr Cameron is due to be considered by a key committee next week. Mr Obama has said that he will use his presidential powers to veto if the legislation if it does successfully pass through Congress.

Telegraph