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Above: On July 30, 2015 activists delivered more than 400,000 petition signatures to Congress on Wednesday. CREDO Action says, “We issued a powerful challenge to Democrats in Congress: Support the Iran nuclear peace deal, or prepare to answer to your constituents for sabotaging diplomacy and pushing for war.”

Senate Vote Blocks Effort to Stop Iran Peace Deal

Tremendous Victory for Peace Movement Over Forces of War

In a major victory for diplomacy, peace the Senate by a vote of 58-42 blocked efforts to derail the nuclear agreement between Iran, the United States and five other nations. Democratic and independent senators who supported the deal prevented the Republicans from reaching the 60-vote threshold to advance H.J.Res. 61, a resolution of disapproval on the Iran deal.

While the Republicans are scheduling additional votes there is no doubt there are sufficient votes to ensure the Obama administration’s landmark nuclear deal, which will prevent a nuclear weapons program in Iran for at least a decade and lift economic sanctions on Iran, will take effect.  While rhetoric among bi-partisans in Washington, DC painted a picture of Iran pursuing nuclear weapons, that was a false picture as even US intelligence agencies have acknowledged there is no nuclear weapons program in Iran.

There were rallies and protests around the world. Hundreds of thousands of petitions were delivered to Congress and protests were held focusing on swing votes who could determine the outcome in the Senate. A broad coalition of groups were involved in fighting for the Iran nuclear agreement negotiated by Secretary of State John Kerry with Iran and China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany.

It’s a beautiful day when peace gets a chance–senate Dems block GOP effort to derail Iran nuke deal! #IranDeal pic.twitter.com/UwiSLu8e1Q

— Medea Benjamin (@medeabenjamin) September 10, 2015

“This is a stunning victory for supporters of peace and diplomacy,” NIAC Action Executive Director Jamal Abdi said in a statement. “This vote should settle the debate once and for all that this is a good deal. The Iran nuclear agreement was subjected to a massive multi-million dollar campaign against it, it has been scrutinized in countless hearings and forums, it was put to an unprecedented vote in Congress, and it has stood up to every single test. Instead of revisiting this vote or re-litigating the terms of the deal, it is now time to focus on implementing the agreement and doubling down on diplomacy rather than militarism.”

WWW coalition member Sister Marge Clark explains why faith groups support the #IranDeal. @NETWORKLobby #NoWarWithIran pic.twitter.com/SfrTIjXXy9 — Win Without War (@WinWithoutWar) September 10, 2015

The co-chair of the Win Without War coalition said “The national debate about the Iran deal has been about more than a nuclear agreement. This fight has tested our nation’s ability to resolve international disputes through diplomacy – not war – and diplomacy has prevailed. We urge our leaders to build upon this diplomatic victory to advance a more progressive foreign policy.”

CODEPINKers at outside of Cheney event just hours before we reached 41 senators who support the #IranDeal pic.twitter.com/iLVQ4AfI1Y

— CODEPINK (@codepink) September 8, 2015

Kevin Martin, Executive Director of Peace Action called it “a great day for those who support diplomacy as the best way to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.” He said those who reject diplomacy “are on the wrong side of not just of this issue, but of history. The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JPOA, as the Iran accord is formally known) will go forward and provide a strong foundation for enhanced security in the region, and hopefully a new relationship between the peoples of Iran and the United States.”

Opposition to the Iran deal spent tens of millions of dollars, Mondoweiss reported:

“AIPAC created a new tax-exempt lobbying group in July called Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran. The sole purpose of the organization is to oppose the Iran deal—which, in spite of the name of the group, will in fact prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons (weapons the Iranian government denies ever even seeking in the first place, and for which there is not a shred of evidence) in return for an end to Western sanctions on the country.”

The reported this group was planning on spending $40 million to stop the deal.  Anti-peace deal Republicans held a rally featuring Donald Trum, Ted Cruz and Sarah Palin.  American Enterprise Institute brought in former Vice President Dick Cheney to speak against the deal who found himself protested at AEI. But, in the end the diplomacy won.

“I stood up and told Dick Cheney he was a #war criminal” @AEI Michaela Anang @michaela_eyes #IranDeal @codepink pic.twitter.com/qZV22pTRnR — Jodie Evans (@MsJodieEvans) September 8, 2015

While we celebrate this diplomatic victory over war, we also know that this its an ongoing effort to bring peace to the Middle East and beyond. David Swanson of World Beyond War emphasized the bigger picture saying:

“We helped stop a war on Syria two years ago without follow through, and now the U.S. military is getting deeper and deeper into Syria and Iraq. This time we need a celebration but we also need follow through. If John Kerry promises $45 billion in free weapons to Israel and Israel starts a war on Iran with some of them, how will we keep the U.S. out of that war? We need to correct the public understanding of Iran as an aggressor. We need to pull the weapons targeting Russia out of Europe that have been put there based on the pretense of an Iranian threat. We need to recognize that war can be avoided as many times as needed, that inspections work, and that the non-proliferation treaty can best be further strengthened by Israel, Pakistan, India, and North Korea joining it, and by the United States and other nuclear nations beginning to comply with it.”

We know that there will be those in the US government as well as lobbyists from extremist groups like AIPAC and those who profit from war-making or who want to profit from Iran’s oil who will continue to push for war with Iran.  The peace movement has learned that it is capable of overcoming those special interests and win peace through diplomacy, we must build on this success to build a peace movement that can never be ignored.