Obama Says House Vote Indicates Support for Iran Deal Increasing
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – US President Barack Obama said that the House of Representatives’ vote on the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between Iran and world powers signifies that support for the deal is growing.
"Today's vote in the House of Representatives is the latest indication that the more members have studied the historic deal that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, the more they have come out in support of it," Obama said in a statement on Friday, Reuters reported.
The House voted on Friday 162-269 against the agreement. The vote is largely symbolic because the White House won enough support from Senate Democrats to prevent the vote from derailing the agreement and, in fact, serves as a rebuke of Obama.
The vote by the House came after 42 Democrats voted on Thursday in favor of the Iran agreement and prevented a resolution disapproving the deal.
The Republicans, however, have vowed to continue to fight, expressing the hope that some Democrats would vote differently next time.
"We'll revisit the issue next week and see if maybe any folks want to change their minds," the Senate's Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell, said in a speech angrily denouncing the vote.
Under a law Obama signed in May, Congress has a 60-day period ending on September 17 to pass a resolution disapproving of the July 14 agreement reached between Iran and six world powers in the Austrian city of Vienna.
If such a resolution were to pass, and survive Obama's promised veto, it would bar the president from waiving many US sanctions on Tehran, a key component of the nuclear deal.
