Sen. Chris Coons (D., Del.) vocalized strong concern about the nuclear agreement President Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry are working to achieve with the Ayatollah of Iran on Thursday.
Speaking with Andrea Mitchell, Coons said he was not pleased with what he was hearing from reports coming out of Vienna where the negotiations are being held. Coons has had reservations about relieving Iran’s sanctions because it would give the rogue nation more resources to create chaos in the Middle East.
"Like many other senators I have real concerns about what Iran will do with funding that they would get from sanctions relief in the event there is an agreement," Coons said. "Tens of billions of dollars would be newly available to Iran to make mischief in the region."
But what Coons said troubles him most is Iran’s new demand is an end to the U.N. Security Council arms embargo. The senator dismissed Iran’s "last minute gambit" as an effort to drive a wedge between the P5 partners. He called their most recent stipulation for a deal a non-starter because of Iran’s current funding of terrorism.
"They're already actively supporting the murderous regime of Bashar al-Assad, Hezbollah, the Houthis in Yemen," Coons said.
Congress will have the ability to review any deal Obama and Kerry agree to with Iran. Coons stated that he could see himself voting against his party’s leader because the deal may not be a good one in his eyes.
"I can imagine a scenario where I would look at the deal and reach my own conclusions that it was not strong enough."