Republicans challenge Obama on Iran deal

WASHINGTON – Backed by Israel, Republicans on Wednesday forcefully challenged President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran as the White House dispatched a Cabinet-level lobbying team to build support for the agreement to ease sanctions in exchange for concessions on the Islamic nation’s nuclear program.

There were scattered Democratic concerns, as well, after classified briefings from Secretary of State John Kerry and other administration officials, although it was unclear how widespread the opposition was in Obama’s own party.

According to lawmakers emerging from the briefings, Kerry said the international coalition behind existing economic and military sanctions will collapse no matter what Congress decides, an assessment that touched a Republican sore spot.

Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said the administration had “given up our veto at the U.N. on Monday,” when the United Nations Security Council voted unanimously to lift international sanctions.

Given the significance of the point, it is likely to be aired extensively today when Corker convenes his committee to hear testimony from Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew on the deal Obama has hailed as historic.

Republicans made plain their skepticism even before Kerry, Moniz and Lew arrived for the meetings.

“No serious person truly believes” that the United States faces a choice between implementing the agreement and going to war with Iran, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., rebutting statements from Obama.

Sen. John Cornyn of Texas, the second-ranking GOP leader, noted the deal did not require the dismantling of Tehran’s nuclear infrastructure, and said, “There are tougher sanctions that will bring Iran to the table for a better deal and a good deal.”

Across the Capitol, Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer met privately with several House Republicans. One participant in the meeting, Rep. Dave Brat of Virginia, said the diplomat’s main point had been to “pay less attention to all the details” like nuclear centrifuges, and more attention to “who’s on the other side of the ethical debate, and that is Iran.” Tehran is opposed to the existence of Israel.

Taken together, the day’s events marked the beginning of the administration’s formal attempt to secure enough votes to sustain a veto of Republican-crafted legislation that would torpedo the agreement.

The deal does not need congressional approval to take effect, but Republicans are expected to try to sink it with legislation that would block Obama from lifting sanctions lawmakers have previously put in place. The president has vowed to veto any such bill, and it would take a two-thirds majority in each house of the Republican-controlled Congress to override him.