Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Tuesday that Israel would be more protected under the Iran nuclear agreement, and said rejecting the deal would allow Iran to continue work on a nuclear weapon and pose more of a threat to Israel and its neighbors.
“I respect greatly the concerns I’ve heard about what this agreement means for Israel,” Reid said in prepared remarks at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. “I believe this agreement makes Israel safer, and in no small part that is why I support it.”
Opponents have said the deal gives Iran access to billions of dollars in frozen assets, and lifts the conventional weapons embargo against Iran, which could let that country pose more of a threat to Israel. But Reid echoed the Obama administration by saying that while no one can underestimate these threats, reducing the nuclear threat trumps those concerns.
“[N]o one should forget that Iran would become a threat of an entirely different magnitude if it ever were to have a nuclear weapon,” he said. “I cannot think of a single challenge in the region that wouldn’t get worse in that nightmare scenario.”
He said if the U.S. rejects the deal, Iran would face no limits on its nuclear program, and the international sanctions regime would unravel, making it harder for the U.S. to pressure Iran with sanctions on its own.
“Iran gets to test more advanced technologies that bring it closer to a bomb — and to do so as quickly as it wants,” he said. “And when those weapons are ready, Iran gets to point them at Israel — or worse, launch them and make good on its threat to wipe Israel off the map.”
But the deal, Reid said, puts real limits on Iran’s nuclear program and gives the U.S. the means to maintain inspections, and also gives the U.S. the option for tough international sanctions if Iran cheats.
“That makes us safer,” he said. “That makes Israel safer. That makes the world safer. That’s what nuclear experts around the world know, what diplomats know, and what the overwhelming majority of my caucus knows.”
“That is why this agreement will stand,” he added.
Reid also welcomed Secretary of State John Kerry’s assurances to Congress that the administration is prepared to boost its security relationship with Israel, including by providing more missile defense aid. Kerry’s letter was aimed at gathering support from both parties for the deal before members vote on whether to disapprove it.
“After looking at the letter and the legislation, I plan work with the White House and with both Democrats and Republicans to guarantee that the United States is doing everything possible to protect the safety and security of Israel,” Reid said.
The House and Senate are expected to vote this month on whether to disapprove of the deal. A disapproval resolution is expected to pass the House, but even if it can be passed in the Senate, it would be vetoed by Obama, and opponents at this point don’t appear to have the votes to override that veto.
Reid indicated in his Tuesday speech that Democrats are open to not filibustering the resolution, and instead would allow a vote. But he indicated it should take 60 votes would be needed to pass the resolution, a condition that seems certain to lead to its defeat.
“Democrats have already agreed to forgo our opportunity to filibuster, and I’ve offered Leader McConnell the chance to go straight to a vote on passage of the resolution,” he said. “But of course, as he has noted many times in the past, everything of importance in the Senate requires 60 votes. So passage will require 60 votes.”
