![\"US](\"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2015\/07\/senate-us.jpg\" "\\"US")
\nUS Senate Republicans are arguing that the Obama administration is about to leapfrog Congress by allowing the United Nations to approve a nuclear pact with the regime in Iran that lawmakers have not signed off on, let alone properly reviewed.<\/p>\n
The battle is uniting Republicans, from conservative firebrand and presidential hopeful Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) to GOP leadership and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.).<\/p>\n
Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, urged the administration to hold off on the U.N. Security Council vote.<\/p>\n
The quick move toward the U.N. vote has also angered rank-and-file Republicans, with Sens. David Perdue (R-Ga.) saying that it makes it seem like the administration \u201calways intended to bypass Congress by moving through the United Nations.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cruz is threatening to block nominees and funding for the State Department unless the administration prevents the U.N. Security Council from voting on the resolution on the nuclear deal, which could happen as early as Monday.<\/p>\n
One of Cruz\u2019s rivals for the GOP nomination, Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.), also blasted the administration, suggesting that Obama is taking the deal to the United Nations first because he knows Congress will ultimately reject the deal.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a clear sign that he knows if this deal is reviewed closely by the American people, it will be rejected,\u201d Rubio said.<\/p>\n
Iran’s opposition leader Maryam Rajavi said following last week’s nuclear deal between world powers and the Iranian regime that the deal – which circumvents six UN Security Council resolutions – will not close the mullahs’ path to deception and access to the nuclear bomb. Mrs. Rajavi added however that by retreating from his red lines, the mullahs’ supreme leader Ali Khamenei had drank a \u2018chalice of nuclear poison\u2019 that would shatter his hegemony and undermine the entire regime.<\/p>\n
Mrs. Rajavi is President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) which was the first to expose the Iranian regime\u2019s clandestine nuclear sites in 2002 that triggered the investigation by the UN atomic watchdog.<\/p>\n
The NCRI\u2019s revelations about the Iranian regime\u2019s nuclear program have been based on information smuggled out of Iran by the main opposition group People\u2019s Mojahedin, PMOI (or Mujahedin-e-Khalq, MEK).<\/p>\n
The U.S. Republican senators also have bipartisan support on the other side of the Capitol, according to TheHill.com.<\/p>\n
Rep. Ed Royce (R-Calif.), the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during an interview with “Lou Dobbs Tonight” that lawmakers would try to block Obama from lifting an arms embargo if he lets the U.N. vote take place before Congress approves, or disapproves, the deal.<\/p>\n
Rep. Steny Hoyer, the No. 2 House Democrat, is also pushing back against the administration. The Maryland lawmaker said that waiting to take the deal to the United Nations until after Congress has voted “would be consistent with the intent and substance” of the review legislation.<\/p>\n
The Obama administration argues there\u2019s nothing in the Iran deal that requires congressional approval before the international community can act.<\/p>\n
White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest on Friday said the international body is showing \u201csignificant deference\u201d to Congress by postponing implementation of the order for 90 days. The delay would allow lawmakers \u201cample opportunity\u201d to review the deal, Earnest said.<\/p>\n
Wendy Sherman, the State Department\u2019s undersecretary for political affairs, suggested to that the administration was under pressure from the other six countries involved in the talks \u2014 the so called P5+1 \u2014 to go to the U.N. sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would have been a little difficult when all of the members of the P5+1 wanted to go to the United Nations to get an endorsement of this\u2026 for us to say, \u2018well excuse me, the world, you should wait for the United States Congress,\u2019\u201d she told reporters at a State Department briefing in the wake of the deal.<\/p>\n
But, the Obama administration\u2019s move is threatening to antagonize Corker, who is among the handful of Senate Republicans who are undecided on the deal.<\/p>\n
The influential Tennessee Republican called the decision to take the resolution to the United Nations \u201can affront to Congress.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is exactly what we were trying to stop,\u201d he said, referring to the legislation lawmakers passed earlier this year forcing the administration to hand over the deal so Congress could vote on it.<\/p>\n
While Republicans face an uphill battle in overriding Obama’s veto, there are plenty of Democrats skeptical of the deal, potentially putting another hurdle in the administration’s path.<\/p>\n
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.), the ranking member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the issue reflected one of the \u201cstark differences\u201d between the administration and Congress.<\/p>\n
The Maryland Democrat was crucial to brokering a deal on the review legislation that made the bill more acceptable to the White House.<\/p>\n
Now, Cardin and Corker are teaming up to ask the president to hold off on the Security Council vote, suggesting that the move is a contradiction to the president\u2019s pledge to let Congress and the American people review the deal.<\/p>\n
Sen. Chris Murphy said that he would have preferred the administration wait on the U.N. vote. “It does create a very awkward dynamic in which the Security Council is going to unwind a set of sanctions that are deeply intertwined with the congressional set of sanctions.”<\/p>\n
But the Connecticut Democrat added that it was issue \u201cthat our allies felt very strongly about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), however, suggested that lawmakers understood when they passed the review legislation earlier this year that the administration could lift sanctions that were not imposed by Congress.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just saying this was carefully worked out as we were working out the deal,\u201d Kaine, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said. \u201cThere was a clear understanding that the president had some prerogatives in respect to international and executive sanctions.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
US Senate Republicans are arguing that the Obama administration is about to leapfrog Congress by allowing the United Nations to approve a nuclear pact with the regime in Iran that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":43521,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[175],"class_list":{"0":"post-18757","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nuclear","8":"tag-updated"},"yoast_head":"\n