Iran bill strengthens Obama's negotiating hand: Democrat senator
A senior Democrat senator believes that a bill passed to allow the US Congress to review the terms of a final nuclear agreement between Iran and the P5+1 would strengthen President Barack Obama's hand at the negotiating table.
"I think the president is in a stronger position, now,” to negotiate a “diplomatic solution” of the Iranian nuclear issue, Ben Cardin, the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Sunday.
The Obama administration had initially opposed congressional intervention in the nuclear negotiations over concerns that the bill would undermine efforts to reach a final pact with Iran.
But the White House conceded after Republican and Democratic lawmakers crafted a rare compromise measure that would give them the power to review an agreement with Iran.
According to the legislation, Obama should submit the final nuclear deal for congressional review and he would not be allowed to lift sanctions, imposed by Congress against Iran, during the review period.
Obama said on Friday that legislation drafted by Senators Bob Corker and Cardin is a “reasonable compromise” that would not impede negotiators from reaching a final deal with Iran by June 30.
“Assuming what lands on my desk is what Sens. Corker and Cardin agreed to, I will sign it,” Obama added.
Iran and P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany - reached a mutual understanding on Tehran’s nuclear program on April 2 in Switzerland.
If a final deal is reached, it would lift all international sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain steps Tehran will take with regard to its nuclear program.
The pace at which the illegal sanctions imposed on Iran will be removed is one of the outstanding issues that still have to be worked out in the final agreement.
Iran insists all sanctions should be removed once the framework understanding reached in Switzerland is finalized.
Corker, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on Sunday the legislation was necessary, and that without it Congress would have never seen the details of an accord between Iran and the P5+1 until it was already signed.
"I think it's very important the sanctions be phased, so that we know how Iran is behaving," Corker said of a potential deal.
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