Arizona Senator Jeff Flake, the lone Republican senator who was considering support for the Iran nuclear deal, on Saturday announced plans to vote against the pact, dealing a significant blow to the White House’s efforts to garner bipartisan backing for the controversial accord.
Flake, a freshman who had praised US President Barack Obama for seeking a diplomatic solution, had been publicly undecided, making him a top target of the White House’s concerted lobbying campaign. Senate vote-counters had considered Flake the only truly undecided Republican vote, although his fellow Republicans had expressed confidence he would oppose it.
In a statement issued while US Congress was on its annual August recess, Flake said he was concerned that the deal severely limits lawmakers’ ability to sanction Iran for activities unrelated to its nuclear program.
Flake’s opposition to the deal all but guarantees that no Republicans — at least in the US Senate — will back the deal, which Obama hopes will form a cornerstone of his foreign policy legacy by preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon for more than a decade.
In total, 20 Senate Democrats have backed the deal, with one opposing it. Forty-six US House Democrats have supported the deal, compared with 10 against.
Flake, who has bucked Republican leadership on a number of issues in his first term, had commended the administration for seeking alternatives to military action against Iran, inspiring optimism at the White House that he might back the final deal.
However, in his home state, Flake had been the target of a week-long barrage of ads featuring a former soldier wounded in Iraq by an Iranian-made bomb. The soldier, whose face is badly scarred, said those who vote for the deal will “be held accountable.”
“They will have blood on their hands,” the soldier said in the ad.
Congress has until Sept. 17 to vote on a resolution either approving or disapproving the pact. Although Obama does not need explicit congressional approval for the deal, the resolution could scuttle the deal by blocking Obama’s ability to lift harsh economic sanctions — the key concession that got Iran to agree to the deal.
Meanwhile, a prominent Iranian hardliner claimed that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is opposed to the deal.
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of the daily newspaper Kayhan and a representative of Khamenei, made the comments in an editorial on Saturday. It was the first time someone publicly claimed where Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, stands on the deal.
Khamenei has not publicly approved or disapproved of the deal. However, he has repeatedly offered words of support for Iran’s nuclear negotiators. Moderates believe the deal would have never been reached without Khamenei’s private approval.
Shariatmadari said in the editorial that many parts of the deal threaten Iran’s independence, security and “the sacred system of the Islamic Republic of Iran” and would be “disastrous” if implemented.
He also referred to a speech by Khamenei last month during which the ayatollah said: “Whether this text is approved or disapproved, no one will be allowed to harm the main principles of the [ruling] Islamic system.”
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