Washington - The US Senate was expected to advance a bill Thursday giving Congress the right to review any nuclear deal reached with Iran, after backers overcome initial objections from President Barack Obama.
A procedural vote was pushed back to 2:00 pm (1800 GMT), but the measure's chief sponsor, Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker, said he believed final passage could come "immediately after" that.
"I think it should be a strong vote and hopefully it's going to happen today and be over," Corker told AFP.
The measure, coming as world powers push to seal an agreement limiting Iran's nuclear program by a June 30 deadline, would give lawmakers 30 days to review the accord.
It also prohibits the president from lifting any related economic sanctions on Iran during the review period.
The bill, co-authored by Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, won unanimous support in Corker's committee.
Obama, who had wanted unfettered negotiation powers with Tehran, lifted his veto threat and on April 17 declared that the measure "will not derail the negotiations."
But the bill ran into difficulty in recent weeks when conservative senators moved to add amendments, including one by 2016 presidential candidate Senator Marco Rubio that would require Tehran to publicly acknowledge Israel's right to exist as part of the final nuclear agreement.
Such an amendment would likely pass, but Democrats warned it would kill the bill and perhaps prompt Iran to walk away from the negotiations.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked such amendments from being included and set up what Corker said should be overwhelming passage.
AFP
