US President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday legislation giving lawmakers a chance to review any nuclear deal the White House seeks to hammer out with Iran, NBC News reported.
Iran and its international negotiating partners, including the US, have crafted a delicate framework for a final deal to resolve the long-running dispute over Tehran’s nuclear program. The nuclear deal with Iran is a key part of the US president’s foreign policy legacy, a fact he underscored during an interview this week with The Atlantic.
The law gives the US Congress at least a month to review the details of the accord, which is set to be finalized by a self-imposed June 30 deadline. During the review, the president would be prevented from lifting congressionally imposed sanctions on Iran.
“Look, 20 years from now, I’m still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it’s my name on this,” the president said in The Atlantic interview with took place on Tuesday and was published on Thursday. “I think it’s fair to say that in addition to our profound national-security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down.”
Iran denies its nuclear program may have any military objectives, saying the work is only meant for peaceful applications.
The US president’s signing of the legislation into law came a week after Obama met leaders of Persian Gulf Arab nations at Camp David. During the summit, Obama stressed to leaders from such countries as Saudi Arabia that a nuclear deal with Iran is the best way to help shore up security in the region.
“Here at Camp David, we agreed that a comprehensive, verifiable solution that fully addresses the region’s and international concerns about Iran’s nuclear problem is in the security interests of the international community, including our (Persian Gulf Arab) partners,” Obama said during a press conference last week.
