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 Forty Democrats and two independents voted to block a resolution
disapproving of the pact in the 100-member chamber, one more than
the minimum needed to keep it from advancing.
"This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national
security, and for the safety and security of the world," Obama said
in a statement after a vote he termed "an historic step forward."
Senate Republicans insisted the fight was not over, however.
The Senate's Republican majority leader, Mitch McConnell,
immediately took steps to clear the way for the chamber to consider
the matter again, hoping some Democrats would vote differently next
time.
"We'll revisit the issue next week and see if maybe any folks want
to change their minds," he said in a speech angrily denouncing the
vote.
Under a law Obama signed in May, Congress has a 60-day period ending
on Sept. 17 to pass a resolution disapproving of the international
agreement.
If such a resolution were to pass, and survive Obama's promised
veto, it would bar the president from waiving many U.S. sanctions on
Tehran, a key component of the nuclear deal.
But there was no sign any votes would change, and Senate Democratic
leader Harry Reid bluntly responded, "This matter is over with."
Reid urged McConnell to move on to other legislation, including
bills providing long-term highway and transportation funding and
urgent legislation to fund the government in the fiscal year
beginning Oct. 1 and avoid a government shutdown.
"This is a situation where he's (McConnell) lost the vote and it's a
situation where he is just not in touch with reality as it exists,"
Reid said.
The defeat came despite an intense $40 million lobbying campaign
against the agreement, largely by conservative pro-Israel groups.
Although the nuclear deal was reached after two years of
negotiations with Iran by the United States, Britain, France,
Germany, Russia and China, the government of Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu vociferously opposed the agreement. Netanyahu
said the deal demanded too little from Iran in exchange for
sanctions relief and would strengthen a country he sees as a threat
to Israel's existence.
Hours after the Senate vote, Israeli Ambassador Ron Dermer, who had
lobbied dozens of lawmakers, said the deal "makes America and Israel
much, much less safe."Speaking at a Jewish New Year reception in
Washington, he said Israel and its U.S. ally would deepen security
cooperation in the years ahead despite their differences over Iran
diplomacy. But he insisted Israel also had "the power and the will
to defend ourselves, a will that no deal and no force on Earth will
ever break."
HOUSE REPUBLICANS VOW TO FIGHT ON
Republican in the House of Representatives meanwhile pushed ahead
with legislation critical of the nuclear accord. They raised the
possibility of filing suit against Obama over the Iran deal or
attaching Iran-related legislation to a bill funding the government.
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"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," House Speaker John Boehner told a news
conference.
Republicans are already using the Iran deal in campaigning against
Democrats in the 2016 election. On Wednesday, Republican
presidential candidates Donald Trump and Ted Cruz were among the
headliners at a raucous anti-deal rally on the lawn of the U.S.
Capitol.
But House Republicans split over how to handle the agreement, after
weeks of marching in lockstep in opposition to the nuclear deal,
announced on July 14.
This week, as Democrats gathered more than enough votes to protect
the nuclear deal, House Republicans came up with their own plan for
three Iran-related votes after a rebellion by some of the party's
most conservative lawmakers.
On Thursday, House members voted strictly along party lines, with
245 Republicans voting yes and 186 Democrats voting no, to pass a
resolution finding that Obama had not complied with terms of the
Iran nuclear review act he signed in May.
Some Republicans argued that the 60-day window for reviewing the
deal had never opened because Obama had not sent Congress details of
what they termed "secret side deals" regarding inspections of Iran's
nuclear facilities.
The House was to vote on Friday on two other Iran-related measures,
a resolution of approval of the Iran deal that Republicans hoped to
defeat by a wide margin, and a separate one that would bar Obama
from waiving sanctions.
But none of the three would have a direct impact on the nuclear pact
similar to that of a disapproval resolution, a mechanism outlined in
the Iran review act.
The House has not scheduled a vote on its own resolution of
disapproval. And there are no plans now for the Senate to vote on
legislation similar to the three measures being considered in the
House.
The 42 members of the Senate Democratic caucus who supported the
nuclear deal on Thursday are also far more than the 34 senators
whose votes would be needed to sustain an Obama veto.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick; Editing by Susan Heavey,
Bill Trott and Steve Orlofsky)
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