Iran Deal Will Stand, Tennessee’s Bob Corker Predicts, But He Hopes To Send Message With ‘No’ Vote

Senator Bob Corker predicts the nuclear agreement with Iran will stand when Congress takes a vote on it next month.

But Corker told a crowd of businesspeople in Nashville Wednesday morning that the vote won’t be the last tussle over Iran between the White House and Capitol Hill.

The Tennessee Republican chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, which he says has given him insight into how the Iran deal would work. He plans to vote against it, and he thinks many Democrats will, too.

“There’s going to be bipartisan opposition,” he said. “So it does give the next president sort of the moral high ground to at least begin looking at different approaches.”

Middle East policy dominated a question-and-answer session organized by the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce.

Corker told them Congress won’t muster the two-thirds majority it needs to block the Iran deal. But he expects it to get enough no votes to send a message to President Obama.

“I can’t imagine there’s anybody that believes they’ve reached an agreement that dismantles their program.”

Corker says other countries’ diplomats have reservations, too. But he says the Russians are looking the other way because they want sell Iran arms, the Chinese because they want Iranian oil, and Europe because it wants to do business in the country.

He believes they can be convinced to take a tougher stance if Congress sends a strong signal it opposes the deal.