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Hillary would strike a better nuclear deal with Iran than Obama: Graham

US Republican Senator Lindsey Graham

A US Republican senator has suggested that former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton could have struck a better nuclear agreement with Iran than President Barack Obama.

In an interview on CBS News on Sunday, Lindsey Graham, who along with a handful of fellow Republicans is pushing for sanctions against Iran, also attacked GOP Senator Rand Paul.

“The best deal, I think, comes with a new president,” Graham, potential Republican presidential candidate, said. “Hillary Clinton would do better. I think everybody on our side, except maybe Rand Paul, could do better.”

The South Carolina senator called Obama a “flawed negotiator.”

“His foreign policy has failed on multiple fronts,” Graham said. “Nobody in the region trusts him. The Iranians do not fear or respect him, so he’ll never be able to get the best deal.”

Former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton attends an event on April 1, 2015 in New York City.

On Thursday, the P5+1 group – the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany – reached an outline of a potentially historic agreement with Iran over Tehran’s civilian nuclear work that would lift all international sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain steps Tehran will take with regard to its nuclear program.

Obama has hailed the "historic understanding" with Iran, saying that it paves the way for a final agreement in three months.

But, several Republicans have slammed the nuclear understanding, saying lifting sanctions on Iran would provoke Israel into an armed conflict with Tehran.

Graham and some others have warned Obama of a violent backlash from Congress if a nuclear deal with Iran goes straight to the United Nations for approval.

He said last month that the Senate will vote in mid-April on legislation requiring congressional review of any possible nuclear agreement with the Islamic Republic.

On Sunday, he told CBS News that “Congress will require any deal negotiated with the Iranians to come to the Congress for our review before we lift congressional sanctions.”

“I don’t mind giving the administration the time between now and June to put this deal together, because when you listen to the Iranians and Secretary [of State John] Kerry, it’s almost like you’re talking two different deals,” Graham said.

“I support the idea of giving them time to put the deal together, but I insist that Congress review the deal, debate and vote on it before it comes final.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (L) arrives with US Secretary of State John Kerry (C) and EU High Representative Federica Mogherini (R) to make a statement on April 2, 2015 in Lausanne, Switzerland. (AFP photo)

In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, American political analyst and activist Charles Coburn said Republicans, notably Senators Graham, John McCain, and Mitch McConnell, are “the mouthpieces of the military-industrial complex.”

Coburn said “the Republican Party has absolutely zero power when it comes to an agreement within the UN. The Constitution clearly states that the president, the executive branch is the sole arbitrator within the UN.”

He added what is “frustrating the Republicans is that even though they are going to be against this no matter what, there is really relatively a little they can do.”

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