Top Obama Officials Take on Iran Deal Skeptics in Congress

The White House says lawmakers who want to know about agreements between Iran and worldwide nuclear inspectors will get a chance to learn about them in classified briefings.

In Iran, those watching state-run television are getting their first glimpse of a live U.S. Congressional hearing.

The vitriolic exchanges on Capitol Hill reflected a hardening of positions as Congress opened a 60-day review of the deal considered crucial to its fate.

Rejecting the deal would give “a great big green light” for Iran to continue developing nuclear weapons without any of the inspection and transparency measures that are part of the agreement, Kerry said.

Opening the hearing, the committee’s Republican chairman, Bob Corker, offered scathing criticism of Kerry for the terms he secured in negotiating the deal. Kerry bluntly challenged critics of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran on Thursday, calling it “fantasy, plain and simple”, to think the United States failed to hold out for a better deal at the bargaining table. However, warming ties between the two nations, capped by the July 14 nuclear deal in Vienna, has seen President Barack Obama appear live on state television twice in recent years giving speeches.

Moreover, Kerry said U.S. allies would support a military response in that circumstance.

Secretary of State John Kerry says he and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are still talking despite their serious disagreements over the Iran nuclear agreement that Congress is reviewing.

Citing previous episodes of diplomacy, Durbin also took exception to Republicans who have argued Obama should not have allowed talks with Iran, which denies Israel’s right to exist and supports terrorist groups.

Every member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee was present for Thursday’s hearing, including two Republican presidential hopefuls – Rand Paul and Marco Rubio.

Kerry was welcomed to the committee chamber by about a half-dozen anti-nuclear activists sporting bright pink “Peace with Iran” T-shirts.

“You guys have been bamboozled”, added Sen.

But Corker chided Kerry and other administration officials for their line of argument that the only alternative to the accord would be more war in the Middle East, saying that the real alternative would be a better deal. In parallel it has demonstrated the militarization of the power structure of a regime at the cost of disregard for all civil and human rights of the Iranian people.

Predictably, Democratic senators leaned in favour of the agreement, but made it clear that they expected Iran to live up to its letter and spirit. If the U.S. walks away from the agreement, Kerry says America’s worldwide partners will not follow. In addition to this, the feeling among some foreign policy analysts is that a nuclear empowered Iran will simply accelerate the arms race in the region between Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Israel and Turkey trying to check Iran’s military advances. But the mood turned critical immediately as Sen.