However, supporters are confident they will be able to get the necessary 34 votes and some started to say privately that 41 votes might be reachable.
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Iran has threatened to destroy Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is vehemently opposed to the deal. To date, only two Senate Democrats and a handful of House Democrats have signaled their opposition.
Obama, a Democrat, has maintained that the agreement will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and that rejecting it would present the U.S. with only worse options, including another war.
“I find that stunning that the leader, the Democratic leader, is proposing that”, Corker told The Associated Press in a phone interview.
Comstock opined that if the U.S. officially enters into the deal, Iran is likely to develop a nuclear weapon in the next 12 or 13 years.
Reid is the 27th Senate Democrat to publicly endorse the plan, in which the United States and five other world powers offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for scaling back its nuclear program, according to the Post.
US President Barack Obama has promised a swift veto in the event of a Congressional rejection of the agreement in September.
“One important task is to ask the administration questions and I’m asking strong tough questions of the administration along with a number of my colleagues who as yet also have been undecided”, he said.
Congress will hold a vote over the Iran deal in the coming weeks, a top priority following the August recess. Progressive groups have lobbied intensely for the agreement, promising to block donations to any “war hawk” who opposes it.
In the House, a few more Democrats declared themselves against the deal, bringing the total up to 14.
Republican support for the deal, which was agreed in mid-July, fell to 19 percent from around 26 percent in the July survey.
While the House has enough votes to pass a measure disapproving the accord, it’s unclear whether the Senate does. However, congress does have the ability to override that veto.
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Republican senators also have highlighted that lifting economic sanctions will give Iran access to billions of dollars that it is likely to put, at least in part, toward supporting terrorist groups and destabilizing the region. No Republican has yet backed the agreement.
