With Mr Kerry, energy secretary Ernest Moniz and treasury secretary Jack Lew waiting to speak, he asked if Tehran “has earned the right to be trusted” given its history.
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“Nothing works for them unless this deal is accepted”, Kerry told the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
An Obama administration assessment of the Iran nuclear deal provided to Congress has led a number of lawmakers to conclude the U.S. and world powers will never get to the bottom of the country’s alleged efforts to build an atomic weapon, and that Tehran won’t be pressed to fully explain its past.
“I have some serious reservations regarding the deal reached on Iran’s nuclear program and will review it carefully, as will the public“, Heller said.
Underscoring the hard-fought gains and losses, New York Rep. Grace Meng, a Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, came out against the deal on Wednesday.
No. 2 two House Democrat Rep. Steny Hoyer, still undecided on the deal, said Tuesday that he will meet with top Israeli officials next month to discuss the agreement.
The Republicans – who control both chambers of the US Congress – are fiercely critical of the agreement, believing that it rewards Iran by easing sanctions without extracting enough guarantees in return.
The administration has sought much-needed congressional support, particularly in the Senate, to ensure lawmakers do not have a two-thirds majority in each congressional chambers to override a potential veto of legislation that undermines the accord.
Apart from the deal, which consumed a large portion of the hearing, lawmakers also expressed concern for security in the region and any military options available as alternatives to the deal. “Do you think Congress should approve or reject the deal with Iran?” “The threat of the Secretary of State who, in the past, warned that Israel was in danger of becoming an apartheid state, can not deter us from fulfilling our national duty to oppose this risky deal”. Sadly, I believe this was Obama’s strategy too. An inspection regime would also be in place to detect whether any requirements have been violated. Among Democrats, 79 percent say that supporting the deal would not make them any less likely to support them in the future.
Carter, Gen. Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and three members of President Barack Obama’s Cabinet testified at a committee hearing.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., countered Rohrbacher, saying there was “a lot of fiction” in the Republicans’ charges.
On the other side of the issue, seven former U.S. diplomats and State Department officials sent a letter Monday to leaders in Congress urging them to support the pact.
And he defended the inspection protocol under the agreement, arguing that if Iran tried to develop a nuclear weapon covertly, the worldwide community would know. The samples would be analyzed by the agency for traces left by any nuclear experiments.
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Tehran insists Parchin is a conventional military area with no link to nuclear tests.
