President Obama told lawmakers, including fellow Democrats, that he would veto a bill imposing new sanctions on Iran, saying there was “no good argument” for increasing penalties on Tehran right now.
“There is no good argument for us to try to undercut, undermine the negotiations, until they’ve played themselves out,” Obama said in a joint news conference Friday with British Prime Minister David Cameron at the White House.
“I will veto a bill that comes to my desk,” he added, urging Congress to “hold off” on such actions.
Lawmakers are readying legislation that would place new economic penalties on Iran, as the Obama administration tries to finalize a deal to curtail the country’s nuclear program.
Stalled talks with Iran recently forced the White House to extend the deadline for negotiations, and Obama conceded Friday that prospects for a deal were not all that high.
“The chances that we can actually get a diplomatic deal are probably less than 50/50,” he said.
However, Obama received an assist on the issue from his British counterpart.
Cameron told reporters that new sanctions on Iran right now would be “counterproductive.”
