Mitch McConnell Admits Iran Deal Will Likely Pass

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell admitted US President Barack Obama may succeed in passing the Iran nuclear deal.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell touts himself as a free trade advocate, but he’s warning that how tobacco is treated in a potential Pacific Rim trade deal could influence his stance on an agreement. The question then becomes whether the deal’s foes can muster the votes to override the president.

“He can win by getting one-third plus one of either house”, McConnell told a local chamber of commerce, The Associated Press reported.

President Obama has “a great likelihood of success” in an upcoming congressional faceoff on the deal, the Kentucky Republican said on Monday, according to reports.

If there’s one thing that both Republicans and Democrats can reliably rally around, it’s hating Sen. In the House, 146 Democrats are necessary to sustain a veto and 48 have expressed their support for the accord, compared to 10 opponents. Schumer has faced considerable backlash from his party and threats by the Obama administration. To reach two-thirds, Republican majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate would need a handful of Democratic votes, which McConnell, R-Ky., said was unlikely.

“The campaign of the president to get it approved will be entirely among Democrats, probably Democrats in very safe Democratic seats whose only fear of re-election would probably be getting a primary”, he explained.

Later in the day, he told reporters that although all odds are in Obama’s favor, he still hopes for the GOP-led Congress to defeat the president’s plan. “And we’ll see”.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee chair Bob Corker (R-TN), who has been deeply skeptical of the deal since it was announced in July, declared in an op-ed in The Washington Post that he would vote against it because it doesn’t stop Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon.

Still, McConnell was less than hopeful Tuesday that the deal could be stifled.

McConnell went on to criticize the JCPOA, claiming that it is a “very flawed deal” in several areas.

“It leaves the Iranians with threshold nuclear capability”, he said.