In the shorter term, Congress could vote against the deal at the end of the 60-day review.
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Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is demanding that the administration turn over the text of the agreements between Iran and the nuclear agency.
In his opening statement, Kerry assured the committee that the monitoring system would be able to identify any attempts by Iran to evade the deal’s restrictions.
Virginia Democratic Sen. Tim Kaine, who has yet to say whether he will support the deal, did praise it for rolling back Iran’s nuclear program but anxious about what would happen when it expires in 15 years.
“I think we can persuade them both that by being more effective in our counter-push as well as through the restraints we have, they will be significantly strengthened going forward”, Kerry said.
“It isn’t a better deal, some sort of unicorn arrangement involving Iran’s complete capitulation”, Kerry told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. “That’s a fantasy – plain and simple, and our own intelligence community will tell you that”.
Israel has blasted the deal. Bob Corker, a Tennessee Republican, said Kerry unfairly presented a false choice and ignored Congress’ role in vetting the agreement.
The deal, which ended a 13-year standoff, requires Iran to curb its nuclear capabilities including the number of uranium centrifuges.
Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz also testified. Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, said there was “a benefit to the cumulative effort”. “This is a question of giving them what they want, this is a question of how do you hold them back”. “And I’m seeing members feeling just a little bit more secure because of that”.
“The fact is that Iran now has extensive experience with nuclear fuel cycle technology”, the former senator said. Walking away from the deal at this point would also threaten any future negotiations with Iran, Kerry said.
“You’ve been fleeced”, Mr Corker, the committee chairman, said as Mr Kerry sat nearby at the witness table – although he later sought to soften his criticism by saying “we’ve been fleeced”.
Other senators’ concerns ranged from Israeli security to the lifting of the Iranian arms embargo and why the Obama administration put the deal before the United Nations without consulting Congress first.
“I think that anybody that has served in the Senate with John Kerry, or has known him since then as I have… knows that he’s a very astute and wonderful and dedicated person”. Congress has until September 17 to approve or reject a deal.
Rubio – who is considered to be in the top tier of GOP presidential candidates for 2016 – railed against the Obama administration’s deal during a Senate hearing and appeared to lay out his agenda if elected to the White House in 2016.
US Senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the committee, said he has not yet decided how he would vote but said he felt US negotiators had made significant progress.
“Doing so could pose a threat to our interests”, the official continued, “and to those of our regional allies, including Israel and the Gulf countries“.
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Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
