“The deal itself is a flawed deal and ultimately leads to a nuclear Iran unless it’s substantially altered," Sen. Marco Rubio said. | John Shinkle/POLITICO GOP clashes over Iran deal makeover Sen. Marco Rubio tells POLITICO he’s skeptical of fellow Sens. Bob Corker and Tom Cotton’s plan to strengthen the pact at Trump’s insistence.

President Donald Trump's ambitious bid to secure legislative changes to the U.S.-Iran nuclear agreement is already running into headwinds within his own party.

Ahead of Trump's Friday declaration that he will judge Iran out of compliance with the nuclear accord — but not withdraw from it, while asking Congress to add more teeth to the deal — Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker and Sen. Tom Cotton unveiled a proposal they believe can meet the White House's mark. But Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), a senior member of Corker's panel, warned that he is "very skeptical" of any move to mend the nuclear pact.


“The deal itself is a flawed deal and ultimately leads to a nuclear Iran unless it’s substantially altered," Rubio told POLITICO on Friday. "I’m generally skeptical of the ability to fix it. I hope I’m wrong. I’m concerned that continuing to adhere to the deal in any capacity has long-term consequences that would make things worse, not better.”

Rubio underscored that he is "willing to be persuaded" of the merits of his GOP colleagues' approach.

Still, the early doubts raised by an Iran hawk whom Corker credited on Friday with helping shape his legislative framework illustrates the intense political and diplomatic challenges facing the administration and congressional GOP leaders. Corker and Cotton's plan will require 60 votes in the Senate, a high bar already given Democratic opposition to Trump's de-certification of Iran as a means to force changes to the nuclear deal.

Corker acknowledged the difficulty of shepherding his and Cotton's bill, which could emerge as soon as next week, to Trump's desk. He said that while he has talked about his plan with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and the foreign relations panel's top Democrat, Maryland Sen. Ben Cardin, the administration also has a key role to play in persuading lawmakers that European partners in the Iran deal are on board with the changes.

"To bring Democrats along, we recognize that they’re going to want some buy-in from our European allies, so there is some work that needs to be done," the Tennessee Republican told reporters.

In the Senate, sanctions on Iran can be reimposed with a simple majority vote if Congress moves within 60 days. But Republicans believe that's unlikely to happen given Trump's ask and are now eyeing a bipartisan solution that can win 60 votes. House Republican leaders have more freedom to steer Iran legislation past likely Democratic resistance but may also face a hard sell with some of their own members who are pursuing separate approaches to punishing Iran's non-nuclear activities.

House Foreign Affairs Chairman Ed Royce (R-Calif.) is open to the Corker-Cotton proposal but right now is prioritizing bipartisan Iran sanctions bills focusing on its ballistic missile program and support for terrorism, a senior House GOP aide said Friday. Royce has called on Trump to "enforce the hell out of" the nuclear pact rather than move the U.S. closer to withdrawing.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson sounded an equally candid note on the tough job of winning congressional approval for the changes Trump is seeking, telling reporters at a briefing late Thursday that "we may end up out of the deal" if Congress cannot agree on a fix.

The agreement, struck in 2015 by former President Barack Obama, eased some sanctions on Iran in exchange for rollbacks to its nuclear weapon-making abilities. Trump lambasted the deal on the campaign trail, but the White House has cited his decision to keep waiving penalties against Tehran as proof that he is more interested in striking a stronger deal — particularly when it comes to sunset provisions in the original agreement — than blowing it up.

Corker and Cotton's plan is designed to achieve those goals. According to a summary released by Corker's office, the Republican duo's proposal would "effectively" eliminate the deal's sunset when it comes to U.S. sanctions and institute an automatic reinstatement of penalties against Iran if the nation comes within a year of nuclear capability.

The forthcoming GOP bill also would enhance verification authority for international inspectors and "limit Iran's advanced centrifuge program," according to the summary. Corker told reporters that he expects the current requirement for Trump to certify Iran's compliance every 90 days to be "far less relevant if our legislation passes."

It's those sunset provisions winding down the nuclear deal with Iran that have raised concerns among opponents who want to see a tougher longer-term strategy toward Tehran. For conservative critics of the deal, the Corker-Cotton framework's attempt to tackle the long-term future of Iranian de-nuclearization promises to unite Republicans behind a single approach.

It also marks a notable alignment among Trump, his longtime ally Cotton, and Corker, who once was an ally of the president's but has more recently publicly feuded with him, even saying the White House is a form of "adult day care" for the president.

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However, those toxic relations between Corker and Trump helped spark White House interest in involving Rubio in the process of crafting an Iran strategy. Sources told POLITICO that the White House last week dispatched United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley — a Rubio ally who shares his hawkish views, in contrast to Tillerson — to sound the Floridian out as a possible point person in Congress on Iran.

Rubio also emerged as a viable pick for the White House because he’s a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and officials had a good experience working with him on Venezuela and Cuba policy.

In addition, White House officials were concerned that Corker wasn’t conservative enough to attract hawks while Cotton, despite his conservative credentials, doesn’t have a reputation of being able to build coalitions or win over Democrats. With Rubio emerging as a swing vote in the GOP caucus as the White House and Senate coordinated on Iran Thursday night, the three GOP senators' offices were asked to issue a joint press release.

But Corker and Cotton's offices opted to go forward without Rubio.

Rubio, who then canceled TV appearances scheduled for Sunday, responded not by directly criticizing the process or the framework that Corker and Cotton produced, but by taking aim at Iran and the underlying Obama-era deal.

“I still have deep skepticism about the deal writ large. If it’s not in our national security interest, what’s the argument for not just re-imposing sanctions?” Rubio said.

“Iran, what they’ve done here, is they’ve secured themselves a 10-year period of time where they can generate revenue to rebuild their economy," the senator added. "They can continue to develop ballistic missiles. They can continue to expand their conventional capabilities. They can continue to sponsor terrorism. And they can continue to do significant research and development.”