The White House on Monday accused Republicans of trying to sabotage ongoing nuclear negotiations with Iran after dozens of GOP lawmakers wrote a letter to Iranian leaders warning that any deal struck with the Obama administration could be short-lived.
“This is only the latest in an ongoing, partisan strategy to undermine these negotiations,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said.
Obama’s top spokesman claimed the letter from 46 Republican senators “certainly interferes” with the Iran talks.
The Obama administration contends that negotiations with Tehran will keep Iran from building a bomb, while Republicans counter that the White House is only making the Middle Eastern nation more dangerous.
The letter from the GOP senators is meant to reassert lawmakers’ standing in a process in which Republicans have accused Obama of executive overreach.
“We will consider any agreement regarding your nuclear-weapons program that is not approved by the Congress as nothing more than an executive agreement between President Obama and Ayatollah (Ali) Khamenei. The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time,” said the letter circulated by Sen. Tom Cotton, of Arkansas, an opponent of any deal with Iran.
Negotiators are working to reach a nuclear deal by a self-imposed March 24 deadline — and Obama has warned that chances of an agreement are “likely less than 50-50.”
