Congressional Republicans unable to mount enough opposition to stop Iran deal

Senate Democrats blocked a Republican resolution of disapproval of the Iran nuclear deal from going to a final vote today, with the procedural motion to move to a final vote falling just two votes shy of the required 60. The news comes as a victory for President Obama, who would have likely vetoed the legislation blocking the Iran deal, dragging out the process for several more weeks.

Senate Republicans are considering pursuing other procedural methods of forcing a re-vote next week in the hopes of putting additional pressure on some Democratic members that are up for re-election next year, reports CNN. A top aide for Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said they do not expect any votes to change if Republicans choose to go this course.

Republicans in the House have also vowed to fight the deal, with House Speaker John Boehner saying that a lawsuit is quite possible. Boehner claims that Obama violated the law by not giving Congress all the information on the Iran nuclear deal. “This is a bad deal with decades-long consequences for the security of the American people and our allies, and we’ll use every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay this agreement from being fully implemented,” he said.

Once sanctions are lifted, most experts believe Iran will bring about 500 MBOPD of production back to the market in the near-term, with the country hoping to reach 5 MMBOPD of exports by 2020. Iran hopes to attract partners to 45 projects at a conference to be held in London December 14-16, where it will also release the final version of its new Iranian Petroleum Contracts.

During EnerCom’s The Oil & Gas Conference 20®, Former Ambassador to Iraq Christopher Hill said that the deal would happen “[regardless of what] some congressman says on a Sunday morning talk show.” During an interview with Oil & Gas 360®, Ambassador Hill said a successful deal will mean balance. “Balance means compromise. When you look at Javad Zarif, who’s the Iranian negotiator in all these nuclear talks, and you look at President Rouhani, these are people trying to seek that balance. They have opposition on all sides, so it comes down to the old question: can the center position hold?”

The deadline before the deal automatically takes effect is September 17, 60 days from when it was presented to Congress. The deadline has also been disputed, meaning that there could be more battles following the date of automatic implementation.


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