“So we would have to get to that level of proof of a violation (Iran openly building a nuclear weapon) before we can see an effective re-implementation of sanctions?”
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In his speech, Obama commented on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s firm opposition to the deal.
“If Congress kills this deal, we will lose more than just constraints on Iran’s nuclear program or the sanctions we have painstakingly built”, he warned.
His speech comes as congressional leaders study the agreement, with a yes or no vote scheduled for next month.
“So let’s not mince words”.
His main argument was that the people who opposed the Iran nuclear deal supported the War in Iraq as if the two were mutually exclusive.
Obama, brandishing his own record as evidence he is not weak or willing to appease, said: “I have ordered tens of thousands of young Americans into combat”. And while he said he did not doubt Netanyahu’s sincerity, he also believes “he is wrong”.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., declared Wednesday that most panel members were left “with even greater concerns” about inspections of Iran’s nuclear sites after an unusual closed-door briefing by IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano. “Iran knows that”.
Following his remarks, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell demanded Obama retract the statement. Boehner said it was a powerful reminder “that the alternative to President Obama’s bad deal with Iran is not war”.
The White House has pressured Congress to support the deal as they return home for an August recess. I was talking to one this afternoon.
“No. I think, what I’m saying is that we’ll obviously want to respond in a proportional way”, Szubin responded.
He called the dispute over the deal “the most consequential foreign policy debate” since the Iraq invasion and argued that Democrats who opposed the agreement would be siding with the architects of the Iraq war. He spoke at the same university where John F. Kennedy called for Cold War diplomacy and nuclear disarmament.
The Iran accord was finalized last month after more than a year of tense negotiations between Iran, the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, China and Russian Federation.
Schumer summed up his decision saying it was guided by his belief that “Iran will not change”, and therefore, under the agreement, “will be able to achieve its dual goals of eliminating sanctions while ultimately retaining its nuclear and non-nuclear power”. He also said that under the agreement, Iran will never be allowed to pursue nuclear weapons once some of the limitations on its peaceful nuclear program expire, and that an Iran with more money to give to terror groups still “pales in comparison” to an Iran with a nuclear weapon.
Obama said he has no illusions about Iran’s support for terrorism and takes seriously its incendiary rhetoric about the U.S. But he also said the Iranian hardliners chanting “Death to America” in the streets of Tehran don’t represent all of Iran.
Many Democrats who complained they were being ignored by the White House during the first six years of the Obama administration say they’ve been impressed by the outreach. “Oppose this unsafe deal”. He cited Kennedy, a Democrat, and Republican Reagan in making his case for diplomacy.
The GOP resolution of disapproval is likely to pass the House and Senate, but not likely to muster the two-thirds of votes needed in both chambers to override the expected presidential veto.
The White House needs to hold onto 145 Democratic votes in the House.
On Tuesday, three additional senators voiced their support for the deal: Tim Kaine of Virginia, Barbara Boxer of California and Bill Nelson of Florida.
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Democrats have been the focus of an intense lobbying campaign by the White House to back the agreement.
