Obama ‘phoning senators to convince them to support Iran deal’

US President Barack Obama has been “phoning Democratic senators one by one to ensure that they will vote for the draft of the White House’s agreement with Iran,” says Yaki Dayan, a former diplomatic adviser for the Israeli embassy in Washington and consul to Los Angeles.

PM Netanyahu, Dayan adds, has also been manning the phones, in an effort to convince senators the deal is a bad agreement. Netanyahu hopes to ensure a special majority that can overrule a presidential veto.

Dayan says Obama has “intentions to leave in his legacy a deal with Iran and a Palestinian state,” and that as part of this strategy he would be on a collision course with Netanyahu regardless of the prime minister comments on any issue.

Dayan speaks of the Wall Street Journal report that claimed Israel spied on US negotiations with Iran and then used the intelligence to try to dissuade lawmakers from supporting the deal.