Senator Bob Corker speaks to members of the Cool Springs Rotary Club Tuesday.

Tennessee Senator Bob Corker says he’s concerned about Iran and its pursuit of a nuclear weapon.

Presidential candidates have been jockeying to be the strongest on Iran, and Corker says they have a point. He’s been in on the classified briefings about the effectiveness of economic pressure that’s being applied to Iran.

“Obviously candidates continually try to outdo each other. I understand the process. But I think people on both sides of the aisle at present have legitimate concerns about whether the sanctions process that we’ve been putting in place are actually going to have the desired effect prior to the time they achieve a nuclear weapon.”

Corker is a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as well as the Banking Committee.

He meets with the Greater Nashville Association of Realtors Wednesday. They’re one group that’s been concerned with his plan to completely privatize the mortgage market.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy up mortgages, in part, so banks can lend more money to people buying homes. Their participation effectively gives a government-backing to much of the mortgage market. But under Corker’s legislation, they would wind down over a ten year period.

“The fact is, I think that everybody in our country knows that the situation we have today with Fanny Mae and Freddie Mac just cannot continue.”

Corker says his plan can bring a return to market “fundamentals.” Currently Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac own or guarantee half of all mortgages in the U.S. They back 90 percent of all new home loans, which is why realtors are concerned about what would happen if they go away.

Corker made his case to the Rotary Club of Cool Springs Tuesday.