THE STUNNING MOMENT – AT 8:56 A.M. ET:  I don't think we've yet absorbed the stunning significance of the unanimous vote of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to approve a bill giving Congress a say in the Iran nuclear deal.

It was a dramatic rebuke to the president, who tried to stop the legislation, which, of course, must still be approved by both houses of Congress.  The withdrawal of the White House's veto threat, in the face of the unanimous vote, makes passage likely, unless the legislation is torpedoed by either side along the way.

Max Boot comments on the significance, and the brilliant role of committee Chairman Bob Corker, in Commentary:

Corker managed to convince every member of the Foreign Relations Committee to endorse a bill that would give Congress the right to approve any lifting of sanctions as a result of the nuclear deal. So thoroughly did he manage to win over Democrats that Obama, facing a veto-proof majority, had no choice but to concede that he would sign the legislation. How did Corker do it? It’s hard to know exactly from the outside but it sounds as if, in negotiating with committee Democrats, he made some cosmetic changes, such as shortening the congressional review period from 60 to 30 days and not requiring Obama to certify that Iran has gotten out of the business of supporting anti-American terrorism. Such changes will spark criticism from some on the right, but the essential point appears intact—namely, that Obama will have to allow Congress to weigh in, something that he has so far adamantly resisted doing.

And...

The basic message, from Democrats and Republicans alike, is that there is deep unease in Congress, as well as in the country at large, about the terms of the accord that Obama is negotiating. And for good cause: As former Secretaries of State George Shultz and Henry Kissinger have noted, “negotiations that began 12 years ago as an international effort to prevent an Iranian capability to develop a nuclear arsenal are ending with an agreement that concedes this very capability, albeit short of its full capacity in the first 10 years.” Those concerns were only exacerbated by Russia’s announcement yesterday that it will move ahead with the delivery of a sophisticated S-300 air defense system to Iran that will make its nuclear plants much harder to hit from the air in the future. Now at least there will be a fighting chance for Congress to try to stop a bad deal, even if the odds still favor the president, given his enormous leeway in the conduct of foreign affairs.

COMMENT:  All true.  As Boot points out elsewhere, the bill, if passed by Congress, could actually strengthen Obama's hand in negotiations with Iran, if indeed he wants his hand strengthened.  By pointing out that any agreement must pass Congressional muster, he can try to get some concessions out of Iran, which needs a deal more than we do.

As the bill makes its way through Congress, the negotiators will return to Switzerland to iron out the actual details of an agreement with Iran.  The deadline for these new talks is June 30th, some two and a half months away.  We should know by then if we have a real deal, or an illusion.  I'm betting on the latter.

April 15,  2015