President Obama has begun efforts to win over sceptical members of Congress about the framework deal on Iran's nuclear programme.
The preliminary agreement will see Iran curb nuclear activities in return for relief from sanctions.
US Republicans in particular have threatened to derail the agreement or impose new sanctions.
The White House has said it is confident it can reach a final deal with Iran by an end of June deadline.
President Obama aimed to speak to all four congressional leaders on Friday, White House spokesman Eric Schultz said.
Republicans control both US Houses of Congress, and there is bipartisan support for a bill which would give Congress the right to review any deal before sanctions are lifted. Mr Obama has threatened to veto it.
In his speech on Thursday hailing the deal, the president anticipated his critics.
"If Congress kills this deal not based on expert analysis, and without offering any reasonable alternative, then it's the United States that will be blamed for the failure of diplomacy."
Despite the domestic pressure, the White House gave another upbeat assessment of the deal.
"We defied the odds," Mr Schultz said. "I do think there's a lot of work to be done, but we are confident that we can get those details in place."
Iran's President, Hassan Rouhani, has vowed it will abide by the terms of the preliminary nuclear agreement it signed with six world powers, so long as they do too
The White House said the US would not sign an agreement over Iran's nuclear programme that would threaten Israel.
Under Thursday's terms, Iran must slash its stockpile of enriched uranium that could be used in a nuclear weapon and cut by more than two-thirds the number of centrifuges that could be used to make more.
In return, UN sanctions and separate measures imposed unilaterally by the US and EU will be gradually suspended as the global nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), confirms Iranian compliance.
Source: BBC NEWS
No comments:
Post a Comment