Jeff Flake, the only Republican senator thought to be a potential supporter of the Obama administration’s nuclear deal with Iran, will vote against approval of the agreement.
“While I have supported the negotiations that led to the [deal] from the beginning, I cannot vote in support of this deal,” the Arizonan said in a statement issued Saturday afternoon.
Flake’s opposition to the agreement means that President Obama is still a handful of votes short of the number needed to be assured that the Senate will not block the deal.
Congress has until mid-September to review the deal. It would take 67 votes in the Senate to overcome a veto of a disapproval. While it is likely that there will be enough Democrats voting in favor of the deal to sustain a veto of the deal, both sides are watching each vote closely.
In his statement Saturday, Flake outlined his reasoning for voting to block the agreement reached by the Obama administration and the Iranian government.
He acknowledged that it “does contain benefits in terms of limiting Iran’s ability to produce sufficient fissile material for a nuclear weapon for a period of time, particularly at its known nuclear facilities.”
Those benefits, however, “are outweighed by severe limitations the [agreement] places on Congress and future administrations in responding to Iran’s non-nuclear behavior in the region.”
Flake said that “this agreement gives Iran leverage it currently doesn’t have,” because the Obama administration will be reluctant to confront Iran on its regional behavior for fear that the Iranian government will respond by dropping its commitments relating to nuclear development under the deal.
“Hoping that Iran’s nuclear ambitions might change after a fifteen year sabbatical might be a bet worth making,” Flake said. “Believing that Iran’s regional behavior will change tomorrow — while giving up tools to deter or modify such behavior — is not.”
Last week Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made waves when he said he opposes the deal.
Flake, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has a reputation for departing from his party’s orthodoxy on some foreign affairs issues. He has been among the administration’s biggest supporters as it moves to normalize relations with Cuba.
