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Obama phones Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman to discuss anti-Iran legislation

Nuclear Program Materials 9 April 2015 01:56 (UTC +04:00)
US President Barack Obama has called Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker to try to dissuade him from pushing anti-Iran legislation while a potential nuclear agreement with Tehran has entered the final stages of negotiations.
Obama phones Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman to discuss anti-Iran legislation

US President Barack Obama has called Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker to try to dissuade him from pushing anti-Iran legislation while a potential nuclear agreement with Tehran has entered the final stages of negotiations, Press TV reported.

The Tennessee Republican is working to assemble a veto-proof majority for legislation that would prevent the Obama administration from lifting sanctions against Iran until Congress reviews a nuclear deal.

Senator Corker told Fox News on Sunday that the GOP-dominated Senate is only two or three votes short of the two-thirds votes required to override Obama's threatened veto.

Meanwhile, the Obama administration is working to persuade Republicans against moving forward with the anti-Iran legislation.

White House spokesman Josh Earnest said on Wednesday the US president told Corker "this principled approach to diplomacy is the best way" to resolve the Iranian nuclear issue.

Even though the two share "obvious differences" on the talks, Obama said he "has a lot of respect for the way Corker has approached the situation," according to Earnest.

The P5+1 group - the US, Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany - reached an outline of a potentially historic agreement with Iran on April 2 over Tehran's civilian nuclear work that would lift all international sanctions imposed against the Islamic Republic in exchange for certain steps Tehran will take with regard to its nuclear program.

Obama has hailed the "historic understanding" with Iran, saying that it paves the way for a final agreement in three months.

But several Republicans have slammed the nuclear understanding, saying lifting sanctions on Iran would provoke Israel into an armed conflict with Tehran.

The US Senate Foreign Relations Committee is scheduled to vote on Tuesday on the bill, which would give Congress two months to review a nuclear deal with Iran before any Congress-mandated sanctions are removed.

The Obama administration wants the Republican-dominated Congress to postpone any vote on the Iran nuclear agreement until at least June 30, the deadline for negotiators to reach a final accord.

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