Saying that Iran is "spiking the football" over
an interim deal to ease sanctions over it's nuclear enrichment program, Republican Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee said he is crafting legislation to hold the administration's and international community's feet to the fire over the next six months to ensure the interim deal is not the norm.
The Obama administration is "long on announcements, but very short on follow-through," Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn.,
said on "Fox News Sunday." But he said that while he'd like to see a diplomatic solution, Congress must weigh in.
The deal's preamble says there will be a "mutually defined enrichment program," Corker said. "The U.N. Security Council, at a base level, stated that Iran would not have the right to enrich, and yet it appears that we have already given a tilt – it looks like we've tacitly agreed that they will be enriching for commercial purposes down the road," he told host Chris Wallace.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif earlier
praised the deal, saying it was a "clear reference that enrichment will continue."
Corker said Iran sees it as their window of opportunity to negotiate with a White House that doesn't have the "intestinal fortitude" a lot of others have had.
"They do view this administration as weak," he said.
Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., who serves on the Foreign Relations Committee with Corker, said the next six months will be used to reach a broader agreement. If Iran fails to abide by the deal, sanctions can be re-applied at any time, he said.
"We will not stand by and just let this be the final deal," Cardin said.