Kerry to outline US assurances to Israel, Gulf to lawmakers

Move comes as White House nears the vote tally it needs to push Iran nuclear deal through Congress

By Matthew Lee and Erica Werner 2 September 2015, 2:42 am

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Secretary of State John Kerry, center, flanked by Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew, right, and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, July 28, 2015, before the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Iran nuclear agreement. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry will send a letter to all members of Congress on Wednesday outlining US security commitments to Israel and the Gulf Arab states in light of the Iran nuclear deal.

State Department officials said Tuesday the letter would be sent shortly before Kerry delivers what is being billed as a major policy speech on the Iran agreement in Philadelphia. The officials said the speech, a week before Congress returns to work, will focus on how the deal makes the US and its allies safer.

Kerry will also attack what the officials said is a “mythology” of false claims about what the deal will do. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to preview the speech by name.

Supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are on the cusp of clinching the necessary US Senate votes to keep the contested agreement alive and hand President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory, in spite of furious opposition.

Democratic Sens. Bob Casey and Chris Coons on Tuesday became the 32nd and 33rd senators to announce support for the deal, just one shy of the 34 votes needed to uphold an Obama veto of Republican legislation aimed at blocking the agreement.

“This agreement will substantially constrain the Iranian nuclear program for its duration, and compared with all realistic alternatives, it is the best option available to us at this time,” Casey said in a statement.

In remarks at the University of Delaware, Coons said: “I will support this agreement despite its flaws because it is the better strategy for the United States to lead a coalesced global community in containing the spread of nuclear weapons.”

Earlier Tuesday Sen. Ben Cardin, top Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, predicted that Obama would get to 34 votes by week’s end.