Democratic senator says no Iran deal means war

Democratic Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia says he is leaning toward supporting the Iranian nuclear deal because the alternative would be war.

Manchin is the latest Democrat to speak favorably of the agreement. Members of his party have started lining up to support the pact as the Obama administration works to sell it to lawmakers. Secretary of State John Kerry argued the case last week on Capitol Hill.

“I’m leaning very strongly towards that because of the options that I have,” Manchin says on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” ”The only other option is go to war, and I’m not ready to send our people into harm’s way again until people in that part of the world want to clean up their own mess.”

Manchin said he has spoken to leaders in four of the five countries that negotiated the Iran nuclear deal, and he said if Congress rejects it, the US will be on its own and faced with going to war against Iran.

“And they all believe that this is a pathway that they should be taking; it’s one they support,” he says. “If we pull out, we pull out by ourselves. So I’m looking at all of the information I have to make a decision by September.”

— AP