GOP senators warning over US-Iran nuclear negotiations
Mar 9th 2015 8:24AM - AOLWASHINGTON (AP) -- Forty-seven Republican senators warned Monday that any agreement the Obama administration strikes with Iran to limit Tehran's nuclear program may be short-lived unless Congress approves the deal.
In an open letter to Iranian leaders, Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and 46 other Republicans said that without congressional approval, any deal between Iran and the U.S. would be merely an agreement between President Barack Obama and Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen," they wrote, "and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time."
Though the letter is addressed to leaders in Tehran, it seems as much aimed at delivering a message to Obama.
Republicans and some Democrats want Congress to vote on any agreement. The pact the bargainers are working on does not require congressional approval because it is not a treaty, which would require a two-thirds majority Senate vote to be ratified.
The U.S. and other nations are seeking a pact that would let Western powers verify that Iran will not obtain a nuclear weapon.
The next negotiations are scheduled for March 15, and wide gaps remain between the two sides. The deadline for an outline of a U.S.-Iranian deal is at the end of March.
Iran has said its nuclear program is peaceful and is aimed at producing energy.
There was no immediate Iranian government reaction to the letter or any discussion of it in Iranian media.
Cotton is a freshman senator who serves on the Senate's Armed Service and Intelligence committees.
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