(Photo: Andrew Burton/Getty Images) U.S. Senator Bob Menendez, D-N.J., gives a speech announcing he will not support President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal at Seton Hall University on August 18, 2015.
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New Jersey’s Menendez is only the second Senate Democrat to oppose the accord reached between Iran and six world powers, after Senator Chuck Schumer of New York.
Obama, however, has committed to vetoing such a resolution, and Republicans need to secure two-thirds of senators to override the veto.
House Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-Jefferson, joined other congressional GOP leaders Wednesday in raising new questions about the Iran nuclear deal after an Associated Press report said Iran can use its own inspectors to investigate a site it is suspected of using to develop nuclear arms.
According to the AP, 34 Senate Democrats are all that is needed to make sure the president can sustain a veto against any legislation that the Republican-led chamber could pass nullifying the deal. I am grateful for a comprehensive series of briefings and hearings conducted by Chairman Corker and Ranking Member Cardin of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and for members of the Obama administration for making themselves available for numerous briefings and one-on-one discussions. Ten House Democrats have announced their opposition. Iran, he said, “will be flush with money”, a portion of it undoubtedly destined to further the regime’s “destabilizing, hegemonic goals in the region“.
The deal calls for limiting Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions.
Because Republicans are virtually unified against it, Obama needs all the Democratic support he can get on Capitol Hill in order to build a “firewall” against expected GOP resolutions of disapproval.
Even with the deal, the U.S. may be left with no alternative in the future but to take military action against Iran, he said.
Ardestani’s remarks followed statements by prominent democrat congressmen who said they would not back the deal. “A hope that things may be different in Iran in 10 to 15 years. Not reduce its structure”, Menendez said.
In Monday’s letter, organized by the progressive group Ameinu, the rabbis said they believe the agreement “blocks Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon”, but expressed concern about Iran’s “support for terror” and asks that the global community “dedicate additional resources to confront Iranian threats to Israel and other states”. Menendez previously criticized the deal for preserving the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear program, rather than ending it completely, and has advocated for continuing sanctions on Tehran.
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“The issue before the Congress in September is whether to vote to approve or disapprove the agreement struck by the President and our P5+1 partners with Iran”.
