Bowing to intense bipartisan pressure from a powerful Senate panel, President Barack Obama has finally agreed to allow Congress to review a potential Iran nuclear deal that is proposed to be concluded by June 30. Obama’s tactical retreat after an initial threat to veto a legislation on this score came in the face of a 19-0 vote by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which for its part reduced the period of Congressional review from 60 days to 30 days. Under this compromise, Obama would, in the event of conclusion of the deal with Iran, be able to lift sanctions imposed through presidential action. But he will have to wait for 30 days to act on the ones imposed by Congress.
To take advantage of this expedited timeframe, Obama will have to submit the Iran deal to Congress by July 9. If lawmakers vote to reject the Iran agreement, the Senate and the House will need two-thirds majorities to override a presidential veto. Obama will have 12 days to consider a veto, and Congress will have 10 days to consider overriding it. Although a climbdown for Obama, the compromise is not without some virtues since the US, along with five other major world powers, could continue the negotiations with Iran virtually unhindered in a bid to hammer out the final agreement after the framework reached in lausanne, Switzerland earlier this month.
With Iran insisting on lifting of all sanctions immediately after an agreement is signed, it remains to be seen how the insistence on deferment of lifting the Congressionally-mandated sanctions by at least 30 days will play out in the negotiations. After the unanimous vote by his panel, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker said the full support for the Bill “will ensure the American people — through their elected representatives — will have a voice on any final deal with Iran, if one is reached”.