Congress returns from summer recess next week, bringing with it enough votes in the Senate to ensure President Obama a win on the nuclear deal with Iran, his signature foreign-policy achievement. The outcome suggests the President’s principal argument — that a negotiated settlement on Iran’s nuclear weapons program is preferable to the alternative — has resonated with key members of Congress.

Yet the irony is that while Administration officials trumpet the nuclear deal as a triumph of soft power (diplomacy and reasoned negotiation) over hard power (military attacks on Iran’s nuclear facilities), Washington’s efforts to assure anxious Arab allies in the wake of the deal seem remarkably focused on reinforcing their capacity to engage Iran militarily.

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