US Republicans, pro-Israel groups step up campaign against Iran deal
Top Republicans vowed on July 22 to do their utmost to scrap President Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran as the biggest pro-Israel lobby geared up for an all-out campaign to pressure wary lawmakers into rejecting the agreement.
A bigger push against last week's historic accord in Vienna was being met with a counteroffensive by senior Obama administration officials, who have already spent hours on in-person and telephone briefings with members of Congress.
Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew briefed the entire House of Representatives and Senate in separate closed-door sessions on July 22 and will defend the deal at a public Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on July 23.
As Congress opened a 60-day review of the deal, Republican US House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner told reporters: "Because a bad deal threatens the security of the American people, we're going to do everything possible to stop it."
Obama insists that the Iran deal is the only alternative to more war in the Middle East.
Israel pressed lawmakers on July 22 to block the deal, with Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer meeting privately with a group of about 40 House conservatives.
The most influential pro-Israel group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), will deploy hundreds of lobbyists on Capitol Hill on July 29-30 to try to convince lawmakers, especially undecided Democrats, to vote against the deal, according to an official in the pro-Israel camp.
AIPAC is also conducting a national television advertising campaign sponsored by allied groups such as Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran, US pro-Israel sources said. They are expected to spend upwards of US$20 million.