US Senators take aim at interim Iran nuclear deal

Two US Senators have taken aim at the Obama administration's interim nuclear deal with Iran, vowing to push ahead with further sanctions that could derail the agreement.

Democratic Senator and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, Robert Menendez, expressed doubt about the deal on CBS' "Face the Nation," saying that additional sanctions would provide an "insurance policy" against Iran's nuclear expansion.

“I hope the deal can be successful,” Menendez said on CBS' “Face the Nation.” “But we need to be ready to move forward.”

Menendez said that he is worried about the so-called "sunset clause" in the agreement, allowing Iran to be treated as a non-nuclear weapons state after the final deal is agreed upon.

The clause says the final deal will, “have a specified long-term duration to be agreed upon,” but the understanding of "long-term" could differ.

“That means that they could, after that period of time, enrich uranium without any consequence and without any limitations,” Menendez said.

The White House has warned the Senate about imposing more sanctions just one week after an interim deal was reached with Iran.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to halt most of its nuclear program in exchange for limited sanctions relief. The interim deal is aimed at buying time for a more substantive agreement in the future.

“If you want to hold our feet to the fire on the final deal, fine, do that,” a senior administration official said, according to the Washington Post. 

“If people have concerns about elements of a final agreement, come in and tell us. . . . But that is a separate discussion from passing a sanctions bill in the middle of negotiations.”

Republican Senator Bob Corker, the top Republican on the foreign relations committee, has been even more vocal than Menendez in criticizing the Iran nuclear deal and pushing for more sanctions.

“It’s very difficult to understand that at the height of our leverage…we negotiated a deal of this nature with not a single centrifuge being dismantled,” he said on the same program," said Corker on "Face the Nation."

“All of them spinning in perpetuity for the next six months.” He added, referencing Iran: "This is a total victory from their standpoint."

Voting on new sanctions has not been ruled out by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, who has stated that more time in required to look over the deal.

The Senate resumes from Thankgiving on December 9.