White House: Rejecting nuclear deal would let Iran off ‘scot

“If the U.S. Congress votes to kill this deal, Iran will get all the benefits of this deal without having to give up anything”, spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters.

WASHINGTON The White House said on Friday that if the U.S. Congress rejects the Iran nuclear agreement, then Iran will not face any consequences for its actions.

White House has cautioned a hostile Republican controlled Congress against killing the historic Iran nuclear deal saying loss of support from countries like India would lead to a collapse of the sanctions regime.

“The second is, Iran would still obtain the financial benefits of sanctions relief something that our critics have described as a financial windfall”, Earnest said.

He noted that the US negotiated the deal with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russian Federation and China and said the crippling effect of worldwide sanctions are what brought Iran to the negotiating table in the first place.

Congress requires a two-thirds majority vote in both houses to override a presidential veto.

“The sanctions regime would collapse if Congress were to kill this deal”.

“Is the president afraid he can’t win over the American people, and his own party in Congress, on the details of this agreement?”

The United States and its allies have imposed illegal sanctions on Iran based on the unfounded accusation that Tehran is pursuing non-civilian objectives in its nuclear program.

“Or Congress can vote to allow Iran to get off scot-free, and to get all the sanctions relief”, the spokesperson said in response to a question.

But Earnest said Wednesday that the administration is pressing ahead with its plans to take it to the United Nations.

The United Nations Security Council’s approval of the deal will not impact US sanctions, he stressed.

Earnest said India along with other major countries have supported this deal.

“Acting on it at this stage is a confusing message to an independent review by Congress over these next 60 days”, Sen. “So I think it would be far better to have that vote after the 60-day review, assuming that the agreement is not effectively rejected by Congress”.

“And the problem is, Iran is going to get all of that money and the United States doesn’t get anything for it”.

– Updated at 3:30 p.m.