Pitching senators, Biden says Iran deal will ‘roll back’ nuke program

WASHINGTON — Vice President Joe Biden stressed to a dozen Democratic senators that the goal of talks involving the US, other world powers and Iran is to keep Tehran from developing a nuclear weapon, The White House said late Wednesday.

Biden said an interim deal would “roll back” Tinterim dehran’s nuclear program and include “significant limits on Iran’s nuclear program to begin to address our most urgent concerns including Iran’s enrichment capabilities, existing stockpiles of uranium, centrifuges, and ability to produce plutonium using the Arak reactor,” according to a statement released by the White House.

He told the senators, including Richard Blumenthal, Ben Cardin, Cory Booker, Al Franken and Elizabeth Warren, that any easing of sanctions would be small compared to limits kept in place.

“The relief we would provide Iran as part of the first step would be modest and temporary compared to the substantial, continuing impact of our sanctions, which would be vigorously enforced throughout the first step,” the statement read.

Some lawmakers want to hit Iran with a new round of sanctions. But the Obama administration has been urging them to wait, arguing that existing sanctions have forced Iran to come to the table seeking relief.

The administration says new sanctions could jeopardize the delicate talks that resumed Wednesday in Geneva.

Details of sanctions relief being discussed have not been revealed. But a member of Congress and legislative aides on Wednesday put the figure at $6 billion to $10 billion, based on what they said were estimates from the US administration.

The aides and the member of Congress demanded anonymity because they weren’t authorized to divulge the estimate publicly.

The senior US administration official declined comment beyond saying that envisaged sanctions would give Iran only limited relief and they could be rolled back if Iran reneges on terms of any initial deal.

Earlier in the day, John Kerry told reporters that an interim deal with Iran would not tackle limiting uranium enrichment in the future, but would also not allow the Iranians to buy time to build a bomb.

The White House said Biden emphasized that President Barack Obama has a responsibility to seek a peaceful solution.

Biden’s meeting follows a personal appeal by Obama to other lawmakers earlier in the week.

On Monday, senators and aides said Monday that a vote to impose tougher sanctions against Iran and its nuclear program will not take place until after the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.

“I don’t see anything happening until we get back,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the top Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters.