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 As September voting on the agreement in the U.S. Congress neared,
Menendez, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman,
became the second senior lawmaker from Obama's own party to announce
he would vote to kill the pact with Tehran.
"I will vote to disapprove the agreement and, if called upon, would
vote to override a veto" by the president, Menendez said in a speech
in his home state of New Jersey.
Shortly later, Senators Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse, both of
Rhode Island, announced that they would support the agreement. Reed
sits on the Senate Intelligence Committee and could help sway other
Democrats' views on the matter.
Republicans almost unanimously oppose the agreement and plan to
schedule votes in Congress on a "resolution of disapproval" against
it by Sept. 17. Obama is trying to gather enough support among
Democrats to sustain a veto of the resolution.
Twenty-three of the Senate's 44 Democrats have announced their
support for the agreement, which would impose new curbs on Tehran's
nuclear program in return for easing economic sanctions. Iran denies
it wants to make a nuclear weapon.
 That level of Senate support is 11 votes short of the 34 Obama would
need to prevent the Senate from killing the deal.
Earlier this month, Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the
third-ranking Democrat in the chamber, said he would vote against
the deal, which was negotiated by the United States, five other
major powers and Iran. Schumer said he would work to persuade other
senators to oppose it too, signaling that there are deep divisions
within the Democratic Party on the issue.
Senator Dick Durbin, the second-ranking Democrat, supports the deal.
Democratic Leader Harry Reid will declare his position when the
Senate returns from recess on Sept. 7, when lobbying and debate in
Congress over the deal is expected to intensify.
HURTS U.S. SECURITY - MENENDEZ
If the agreement were to go into effect, Menendez said, it would
hurt national security while abandoning a long-held U.S. policy of
preventing nuclear proliferation. Instead, he said, it would
establish a policy of "managing" nuclear proliferation.
Despite his stance against the Iran deal, it is not clear how much
Menendez would influence other Democrats.
 A senior Obama administration official said the announcement had
been expected and would not alter White House plans. "The strategy
is the exact same today as it was yesterday," said the official,
speaking on condition of anonymity.
State Department spokesman John Kirby expressed confidence the Iran
deal will win congressional support but added that Secretary of
State John Kerry is reaching out to lawmakers.
Privately, backers of the deal say that while they still hope to
have enough votes in the Senate to sustain an Obama veto, they are
even more confident of doing so in the House of Representatives.
Success in either chamber will ensure the deal survives.
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Republicans say the deal gives too much ground to Iran and threatens
the security of Israel, a major U.S. ally in the Middle East.
The speech by Menendez, a strong backer of Israel, at Seton Hall
University in South Orange, New Jersey, contained a detailed,
technical analysis of the agreement. He pointed out that throughout
Obama's term in office he has mainly backed the Democratic
president, voting for Wall Street and healthcare reforms and other
major initiatives.
Menendez was indicted on corruption charges in April. He has pleaded
not guilty and vowed to fight the allegations.
He questioned Obama's threats to ultimately take military action
against Iran if it went ahead with making a nuclear bomb. "We should
authorize now the means for Israel to address the Iranian threat on
their own in the event that Iran accelerates its program and to
counter Iranian perceptions that our own threat to use force is not
credible," he said.
BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD?
He also criticized Republicans, who he said "reflexively oppose
everything the president proposes."
"While I have many specific concerns about this agreement, my
overarching concern is that it requires no dismantling of Iran’s
nuclear infrastructure and only mothballs that infrastructure for 10
years. Not even one centrifuge will be destroyed under this
agreement," Menendez said.
He urged the Obama administration to go back to the negotiating
table to rework the main elements, something the Obama
administration says would be impossible.
The non-partisan Arms Control Association on Tuesday said 70 nuclear
non-proliferation experts issued a statement in support, calling it
"a strong, long-term and verifiable agreement that will be a
net-plus for international nuclear non-proliferation efforts."
(Additional reporting by Warren Strobel, Arshad Mohammed and Andy
Sullivan, with Sebastien Malo in South Orange, N.J.; Writing by
Richard Cowan; Editing by Kevin Drawbaugh, David Storey, Grant
McCool and Jonathan Oatis)
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