White House seeks support at home and abroad for Iran deal

WASHINGTON — At home and abroad, the White House courted support for a landmark nuclear deal with Iran on Thursday as congressional leaders in both parties pointed toward a politically charged showdown this fall over Republican attempts to scuttle the agreement.

“It blows my mind that the administration would agree to lift the arms and missile bans and sanctions,” said Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, referring to some of the provisions in the complex accord.

He said the Republican-controlled Congress would likely soon be on track to pass legislation denying President Barack Obama the ability to lift numerous financial and other restrictions Iran currently faces.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California became the first prominent Democrat in Congress to back the deal, saying she is “very optimistic about our ability to support the president.”

Obama has pledged to veto any bill rejecting the agreement. Neither Pelosi nor Boehner ventured a prediction on the final outcome.

The maneuvering in Congress unfolded as Secretary of State John Kerry met with Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir, coming away without an immediate endorsement for the deal.

“We hope that the Iranians will use this deal in order to improve the economic situation in Iran and to improve the lot of the Iranian people and not use it for adventures in the region,” the Saudi diplomat said. His country is Iran’s main rival in the Middle East, and Kerry promised to respond if Tehran supports terrorism against its neighbors.

Kerry intends to brief Persian Gulf leaders early next month at a meeting in Qatar. Even before then, Defense Secretary Ash Carter leaves this weekend for the Mideast, with stops in Israel and Saudi Arabia. Officials said his mandate is to reassure the Jewish state that the U.S. is committed to guaranteeing its ally’s regional military superiority.

Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu is an implacable opponent of the deal, saying it would put Iran on a path toward acquiring a nuclear weapon.

Under the agreement, Iran pledged to curb its nuclear program for a decade in exchange for potentially hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of relief from international sanctions. Many penalties on the Iranian economy, such as those related to the energy and financial sectors, could be lifted by the end of the year.

One prominent supporter of the deal sounded less than enthusiastic.

Democratic presidential contender Hillary Rodham Clinton, campaigning in New Hampshire, said that despite the deal, Iran continues “to be a major exporter of terrorism, instability, insurgency, proxies like Hezbollah. They remain an existential threat to Israel, they are intent upon destabilizing the Middle East.”

Even so, she said, it’s better to “put a lid” on its nuclear program.

At a news conference in the Capitol complex, Boehner spoke strongly against the agreement and rebutted one of Obama’s central claims over the past two days.

“If President Obama says it’s this deal or war, well that’s a false choice. The sanctions were working and bringing Iran to its knees,” Boehner said. The House, he added, is “going to fight a bad deal that’s wrong for our national security and wrong for our country.”

Wendy Sherman, the lead U.S. nuclear negotiator, said Thursday that even a U.N. vote in favor would not mean sanctions on Iran would come off in that time frame.

While Pelosi was reluctant to predict the outcome of a veto clash, one member of the Democratic vote-counting team was more bullish.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois cited a letter signed by 147 Democrats earlier this year after world powers and Iran unveiled the general framework of their deal. That letter encouraged the president to continue with the negotiation.

Since the final deal was announced, Schakowsky said, “I haven’t heard anyone for example say, ‘Oh I learned something that has made it impossible for me now to sustain a presidential veto.’”