Senate Foreign Relations ranking member Benjamin Cardin, D-Md.(Photo: Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)
WASHINGTON<span style="color: Red;">*</span>— If the Iran nuclear accord goes into effect, the top Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee says<span style="color: Red;">*</span>the United States should and presumably would<span style="color: Red;">*</span>increase military aid to Israel and the friendly<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Gulf states that are now pushing<span style="color: Red;">*</span>for the deal's<span style="color: Red;">*</span>demise.
"Under any diplomatic solution, [Iran] would be able to use their own resources without the current restrictions" as economic sanctions are lifted,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Maryland Sen. Benjamin Cardin told Capital Download. In consultations with the White House and leaders from the region, he said,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"I think there is a general agreement that we must reinforce our commitment to the security of our friends."
Cardin, a key voice in the emerging debate, says<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he hasn't made up his mind whether to support the agreement. He is being lobbied by leaders on both sides, including a phone call from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opposing it and a private<span style="color: Red;">*</span>90-minute session with Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz on Tuesday addressing technical questions from Cardin and Foreign Relations Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn.
USA TODAY
Congress to scrutinize Iran deal this week
The committee opens hearings Thursday with testimony from Secretary of State John Kerry, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Moniz.
Congress, which has 60 days to review the deal, has the option of passing a resolution of approval or disapproval. The conventional wisdom is that Congress may well<span style="color: Red;">*</span>pass a resolution of disapproval — "This is a bad deal," House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, already has declared —<span style="color: Red;">*</span>although that would require 60 votes in the Senate.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>But President Obama has vowed to veto the resolution, and the White House<span style="color: Red;">*</span>would need just 34 votes in the Senate to avoid an override.
USA TODAY
Capital Download - Conversations with Washington's biggest newsmakers
The discussions under way about addressing concerns in Israel, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere if and when the accord goes into effect<span style="color: Red;">*</span>reflect a sense by some that the White House is likely to be able to sustain the president's veto, if it comes to that.
Cardin is still wrestling with where he will stand.<span style="color: Red;">*</span>"We can't trust them," he said of Iran. "I think the major concern is, what is their ultimate goal? Are they trying to wait us out? Are they trying to figure out a way they can cheat?
He disputed<span style="color: Red;">*</span>Obama's argument before the Veterans of Foreign Wars in Pittsburgh on Tuesday likening those who oppose the Iran deal to lawmakers who pushed for the ill-fated invasion of Iraq in 2003. The president called for "strong and disciplined diplomacy" instead of "chest-beating."
USA TODAY
Obama 'not satisfied' with progress at VA hospitals
Cardin, who voted against authorizing the Iraq War, called the comparison unfair. "The Iranian agreement has to be evaluated as to what course is the best to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear state," he said.
But the Maryland senator also indicated on USA TODAY's weekly video newsmaker series<span style="color: Red;">*</span>that some key questions about the accord had been answered to his satisfaction. He noted that Moniz expressed confidence that the 24-day waiting period wouldn't prevent inspectors from detecting whether Iran was cheating. He agreed with Kerry that the accord calls for "the most intrusive inspection regimes that any country has ever agreed to," and that Iran had abided by provisions of the interim accord.
"You can't really try to second-guess" whether U.S. negotiators could have reached a better deal,<span style="color: Red;">*</span>he said. "The question is, is it good enough?"
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