McConnell: Iran deal will be ‘hard sell’ in Congress

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Sunday led a chorus of bipartisan concern from congressional leaders and 2016 presidential candidates about an Iran nuclear deal, amid reports in that negotiators are expected to reach a provisional agreement.

McConnell said on Fox News Sunday that the deal would be “a very hard sell” for the Obama administration in Congress.

McConnell’s remarks come after repeated negotiating delays over a final agreement on Iran’s nuclear program.

NewsChannel 9 spoke to Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, about the likelihood of striking a deal, which would curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting crippling sanctions against the country. Neither is Iran’s ballistic missile capability, which could deliver nuclear warheads to the United States.

“We have gone from preventing Iran having a nuclear ability, to managing it”, said Sen. Iran has denied any nuclear weapon ambitions and said its program is meant to supply domestic energy and other peaceful purposes.

“He (Obama) will have to get at least 34 votes” in the 100-member Senate to sustain his veto, McConnell said, adding that he hoped Democrats would resist a “strong pull” not to buck Obama, a fellow Democrat. “What we are doing is basically rolling back sanctions for – not rolling back Iran’s elicit nuclear infrastructure, but rolling back sanctions for verification”.

He said he and other Republicans would be evaluating the deal based on a number of factors, such as whether it guarantees access to Iranian military facilities, where Iran will have to disclose its past research-and-development activities and whether it’s verifiable. The other countries involved in the negotiations and that must also agree to a deal are Britain, China, France, Germany and Russian Federation.

Iranian Vice President Masoumeh Ebtekar told ABC News’ Martha Raddatz she is optimistic about the terms of a potential deal, saying “it will signify an opportunity for both sides to work together to resolve some of the issues” facing Iran.

The current negotiations have run more than two weeks and blown through three deadlines.

However, McConnell acknowledged the deal, which allows Obama to ease some sanctions, will “likely be approved and passed”.

“We know they were building a bomb, we just don’t know how far along they were”, Corker said on NBC’s “Meet the Press”.

Obama downplayed chances for an Iran nuclear deal during a closed-door meeting with Senate Democrats last week, telling participants that an agreement was at best a 50-50 proposition.

Should the deal end up with a resolution of disapproval from Congress and Obama vetoes it, he would need 34 senators to override.

Be proactive – Use the “Flag as Inappropriate” link at the upper right corner of each comment to let us know of abusive posts.