Two Democrats come out against Obama’s Iran deal

WASHINGTON — Sen. Chuck Schumer came out against the Iran nuclear agreement Thursday night, making him the most prominent Democrat to oppose one of the biggest foreign policy initiatives of the Obama presidency.

Rep. Eliot Engel, D-N.Y., came out against the deal shortly afterward. He is the ranking Democrat on the House Foreign Relations Committee.

“Ultimately, in my view, whether one supports or opposes the resolution of disapproval depends on how one thinks Iran will behave under this agreement,” Schumer said in an essay on the web site Medium

The defection of two New York Jewish Democrats from the Obama administration position wasn’t entirely unexpected. But with Republicans potentially unanimous in their opposition to the agreement, Obama will need Democratic votes — 34 in the Senate or 165 in the House — in order to sustain his veto of a resolution disapproving the deal.

The White House was “in regular contact” with Schumer and other Jewish Democrats this week, Deputy National Security Adviser Ben Rhodes  told CNN on Wednesday, and he said administration officials were confident they would support the agreement.

At a Senate hearing Wednesday, Schumer called the vote “one of the most important votes I’ve had to take, any of us will have to take, in our legislative career.”

“I owe it to my constituents to make an informed decision. I won’t let party, pressure, politics interfere with doing what I think is right. I want to judge the deal on the merits and the merits alone,” he said.

In Schumer’s analysis, the deal as it stands would be acceptable for the first 10 years. But after that, he said the deal is structured to relax limits on Iran’s uranium-producing centrifuges. “To me, after ten years, if Iran is the same nation as it is today, we will be worse off with this agreement than without it,” Schumer said.

Engel said he still believes in a diplomatic solution, but cited concerns about inspections, ballistic missiles and sanctions relief.

“Even under the weight of international sanctions, Iran was able to support terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah, Hamas, and other violent extremists,” he said in a statement. “We can have no illusions about what Iran will do with its newfound wealth.”