Top Democrat Chuck Schumer Opposes Iran Nuclear Deal

Vermont U.S. Senator and presidential candidate Bernie Sanders says he’ll support the deal negotiated by the United States and other nations with Iran to limit its nuclear program.

“Advocates on both sides have strong cases for their point of view that can not simply be dismissed”, Schumer, the number three Democrat in the Senate, said in a statement.

Mr Obama has been engaged in his own lobbying effort, including a combative speech on Wednesday in which he said abandoning the agreement would open up the prospect of war. Some Jewish New Yorkers, a key voting bloc, see the treaty as hurting Israel, and they demanded that Schumer oppose it. Now, Schumer, a Democrat, is defying President Obama, the leader of the Democratic Party.

Schumer, a senior Democrat next-in-line to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, was a top White House target in the Iran deal lobbying campaign.

“The concern the president had with the Republican conference that he described as making common cause with the Iranian hardliners is that they announced their opposition to this agreement before the agreement was even reached”, Earnest said.

Key Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer announced Thursday night he would oppose the Iran nuclear deal, saying he would try to persuade his Democratic colleagues to do the same. Amb.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called on Obama to stop demonizing foes of the deal, but the president doubled down on his assessment. Marco Rubio of Florida, aren’t almost as confident as administration officials, who have stated unequivocally that they have enough Democratic support to sustain a veto keeping the deal afloat, as Obama spokesman Josh Earnest reiterated on Friday. Chuck Schumer’s defection on the Iran nuclear deal.

“This is a decision that shouldn’t be made lightly, and I am going to just study the agreement and talk to people before I do anything else”, New York Senator Chuck Schumer said at a press conference back on July 15, 2015.

“While inspectors would likely be able to detect radioactive isotopes at a site after 24 days, that delay would enable Iran to escape detection of any illicit building and improving of possible military dimensions (PMD) - the tools that go into building a bomb but don’t emit radioactivity”, Schumer said. Another House Democrat, Rep. Brad Sherman of California, defected from the Obama administration Friday over the Iran agreement. Almost 60 legislators-22 Democrats and 36 Republicans- from the US House of Representatives will travel to Israel this month, which is being paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, the charitable arm of AIPAC.

Sherman otherwise praised President Barack Obama for his efforts to keep Iran from becoming a nuclear weapon state.

The White House has not yet responded to Schumer’s statement.

Obama also said the economic sanctions relief Iran stands to obtain under the deal is “not a game-changer” for security in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who opposes the deal, hasn’t come up with a better alternative, Obama said.