President Barack Obama stepped up his effort to get Congress to ease off a vote on the administration’s tentative nuclear agreement with Iran, speaking Wednesday with the influential chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Obama called Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., to “underscore his view about the opportunity that now exists,” Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
Corker is the author of legislation that would require Obama to give Congress 60 days to review the Iran deal and would block the White House from immediately easing sanctions imposed on the Tehran government. The White House has threatened to veto the measure.
Earnest said the conversation was “not an opportunity for the two men to negotiate the terms of any sort of legislation” but rather a chance for Obama to make his case.
“They have obvious differences, but the president made the case to him once again that the president believes that this principled approach to diplomacy is the best way for us to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon,” Earnest said.
Corker has said he plans to take up the bill next Tuesday, after Congress returns to Washington from its two-week recess. The White House has said the legislation could doom chances of reaching an agreement by June 30.