U.S. Congress to push for oversight on Iran deal, senator says

U.S. Congress to push for oversight on Iran deal, senator says. (TOI).

Lindsey Graham says Republican majority will shoot down any ‘bad’ nuclear agreement with Tehran

The incoming Republican majority in the Senate will advance a bill that would subject any Iran nuclear deal to congressional review, a top senator said.

“If there is a deal, if it is a good deal, I will go for it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) said Saturday at the inaugural conference of the Israeli American Council.

“If it is a bad deal, I will kill it,” said Graham, who as chairman of the foreign operations subcommittee of the incoming Senate’s Appropriations Committee will wield considerable power in foreign policy. He said his bill would be cosponsored with Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.), the incoming Foreign Relations Committee chairman.

Israeli ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, described the difference between Israel and the United States over Iran as a “serious disagreement.”

“We don’t merely want to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon today, we want to make sure that Iran does not have the capability to build a nuclear weapon tomorrow,” Dermer said.

“And we believe that goal is achievable by keeping strong sanctions and other pressures,” he said.

“And only reducing those pressures when Iran fully dismantles its nuclear weapons capability. A deal that removes those sanctions and leaves Iran’s nuclear program essentially intact is a bad deal as far as Israel is concerned.” Read the full story here.