The US Senate on Thursday advanced legislation that would allow Congress to review a nuclear deal between world powers and Iran, clearing a major hurdle after weeks of Republican infighting threatened the bill’s passage.



Senators overwhelmingly voted 98-1 in favor of the bill, with only Tom Cotton against its passage. Under the compromise, Congress would have 30 days to both review any nuclear accord with Iran and pass a resolution of disapproval. In the event that lawmakers passed such a resolution, Barack Obama would be unable to lift some of the congressional sanctions on Tehran.

The fate of the bill had looked unclear in recent weeks, as a handful of senators pushed for votes on so-called “poison pill” amendments that would have revived a veto threat from the Obama administration. The Republican presidential candidate Marco Rubio was particularly vocal in seeking a vote on his amendments – namely one that would require Iran to recognize Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state – and last week teamed up with Cotton, a freshman Republican from Arkansas, to try to force a vote on the measure.

Cotton has been one of the fiercest opponents of nuclear talks with Iran and spearheaded a controversial letter, signed by 47 Republicans, warning Iranian leadership that the next president could reverse any accord struck under Obama.

Republican Bob Corker, the Tennessee senator who chairs the Senate foreign relations committee, and Maryland senator Ben Cardin, the top Democrat on the panel, urged their colleagues to withhold from offering contentious amendments given the delicate nature of both the compromise and the broader talks with Iran. The bipartisan agreement was initially opposed by the White House, but following weeks of sensitive negotiations the Obama administration said the president would not veto the bill if it passed.

Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, acknowledged the drama surrounding the sanctions bill while urging lawmakers to pass bill in its current form in a Senate floor speech on Thursday morning. The Kentucky Republican dubbed the bill “the best chance for our constituents, through the Congress they elect, to weigh in on the White House’s negotiations with Iran”.

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Negotiations between Iran and six world powers are ongoing, but a tentative framework announced last month marked a historic breakthrough. Under the provisional agreement, restrictions will be placed on Iran’s enrichment of nuclear material so that it cannot lead to atomic weapons. In exchange, the US and European Union will terminate all nuclear-related economic sanctions on Iran once the UN nuclear agency confirms that Iran has met its conditions.

“If we didn’t face the threats of filibusters, or the blocking of amendments, or the specter of presidential vetoes, this bill would be a heck of a lot stronger. I assure you,” McConnell said. “But the truth is, we do. That’s the frustrating reality. The response to this should not be to give the American people no say at all on a deal with Iran.”

Rubio expressed disappointment ahead of the vote that he was unable to get a vote on his amendments, which he said had left some senators “terrified”.

“I am deeply disappointed by the direction this debate has taken,” said Rubio, who also sits on the foreign relations committee. He nonetheless added that he would support the passage of the bill.