Senior Republican: ‘No chance’ Congress will support Iran deal

Senator Lindsey Graham, a Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday said the nuclear deal with Iran was tantamount to declaring war against Israel and the Sunni Arab states and maintained there was “no chance” Congress would support it.

The comments came as a top Democrat cautioned that the deal would need to be carefully scrutinized by Congress, although President Barack Obama has already declared that he would veto any legislation that seeks to block the deal.

The agreement sealed Tuesday morning is “incredibly dangerous for our national security, and it’s akin to declaring war on Sunni Arabs and Israel by the P5+1 because it ensures their primary antagonist Iran will become a nuclear power and allows [Iran] to rearm conventionally,” Graham told Bloomberg.

The presidential hopeful said he would not uphold the “nightmare” of a deal if elected, and said Congress would likely torpedo it.

“There is no chance that this deal will be approved by Congress,” he said. Graham anticipated that “an overwhelming super majority in both the House and the Senate” would reject the deal.

“My initial impression is that this deal is far worse than I ever dreamed it could be and will be a nightmare for the region, our national security and eventually the world at large,” he said.

House Speaker John Boehner said the deal will only “embolden” Tehran and trigger an atomic weapons race.

“Instead of stopping the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East, this deal is likely to fuel a nuclear arms race around the world,” said the Republican Boehner in a statement, adding that US lawmakers will “review every detail of this agreement very closely.”

Meanwhile, Maryland Senator Ben Cardin, the most senior Democrat on Foreign Relations Committee, said Congress “has an obligation to vigorously and judiciously review the deal announced today with a seriousness of purpose.”

There is “no trust when it comes to Iran,” Cardin said.

“Negotiators have spent painstaking time and untold effort working on this accord,” he said, according to The New York Times. “Congress in turn must fulfill its oversight responsibilities and conduct a thorough, rigorous and evenhanded review.”

Another Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee also warily sized up the deal. Senator Chris Coons of Delaware said he would only support the deal if it “prevents every Iranian pathway to develop a nuclear weapons capability.”

“The inspectors of the International Atomic Energy Agency must have timely and effective access to military and sensitive facilities in Iran, and be able to fully assess Iran’s past illicit nuclear weapons efforts,” Coons said, according to The Times.

Weighing in, Democratic Representative Nancy Pelosi said Congress “will closely review the details of this agreement.”

“Congress will closely review the details of this agreement,” she said, hailing Obama’s “bold and clear-eyed leadership.”

“A nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable to the United States, unacceptable to Israel, and unacceptable to the world,” Pelosi said.

Obama heralded a historic nuclear agreement with Iran Tuesday as an opportunity for the longtime foes to move in a “new direction,” while sharply warning Congress that it would be irresponsible to block the accord.

“No deal means a greater chance of more war in the Middle East,” Obama said in early morning remarks from the White House.

Obama, accompanied by Vice President Joe Biden, spoke shortly after negotiators in Vienna announced the landmark deal aimed at curbing Iran’s nuclear program for more than a decade in exchange for billions of dollars in international sanctions relief. The president said the agreement, hammered out through nearly two years of negotiations, would cut off all of Iran’s pathways to a bomb and give the international community unprecedented access to the country’s nuclear facilities.

“This deal is not built on trust,” Obama said. “It is built on verification.”

Even with the world powers in agreement, Obama now must sell the virtues of the deal to skeptical lawmakers on Capitol Hill. Congress has 60 days to assess the accord and decide whether to pursue legislation imposing new sanctions on Iran or prevent Obama from suspending existing ones.

The president renewed his vow to veto any such legislation and urged lawmakers to consider the repercussions of their actions. He painted a grim scenario in which the rest of the world struck its own nuclear deals with Iran, leaving the US isolated. And without the limitations and verifications included in the deal announced Tuesday, Obama said he or a future US president would be more likely to face a decision about using US military action to prevent Iran from building a bomb.

The White House was expected to quickly launch a campaign to win support for the deal on Capitol Hill. The US president was also expected to speak with several world leaders Tuesday.

AFP contributed to this report.