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Casey: Nuke deal best option

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On Tuesday, Pennsylvania U.S. Sen. Bob Casey said he would be voting to support the nuclear deal the United States and five other nations forged earlier this summer with Iran. His support, and then the announced support of other Senate Democrats in the days that followed, assured the deal will not be scuttled by Congress.

On the phone Friday morning, however, the senator cautioned the deal is not necessarily a sign valentines are on the verge of being sent back and forth between Tehran and Washington, D.C.

“We’re still in a very tense, adversarial state with Iran,” Casey said. “You don’t negotiate with your friends.”

Still, he said, the benefits of a deal were enough to nudge him toward supporting it. As he outlined in a statement he released Tuesday, a deal would be “the best option” to halting the development of a nuclear weapon by Iran. Under its terms, some economic sanctions against Iran would be lifted, and inspections with sophisticated equipment would be carried out to make sure Iran is living up to its end of the bargain.

Opponents of the deal counter the Iranian regime can’t be trusted, and the Iranians could have been brought to heel with additional sanctions. Some also suggested scrapping the treaty and starting over. However, Casey said he was not convinced Iran would have come back to the negotiating table, and the sanctions regime would likely have collapsed if the United States walked away.

“You can’t just talk tough,” Casey said. Sanctions that had already been in place were not deterring Iran from moving toward a nuclear weapon, and he doubted added sanctions would have done the trick.

Under the conditions of what has been called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, Iran will hold off on any activities that would lead to the development of a nuclear weapon for 10 years.

Its supporters say the deal buys time for the United States and its allies, with the hope that moderates will have more power within Iran by 2025. Casey is not necessarily optimistic that will happen, and some friction with Iran is certainly possible over the life of the treaty.

“I’m assuming we’re going to have to hold them accountable,” Casey said. “We’re going to be battling them every day of the week.”

Though the Senate as a whole is likely to voice its disapproval of the treaty, President Obama is certain to veto that measure. Sixty-seven votes are needed to override a presidential veto, and the possibility of opponents gathering that many votes ended Wednesday, when Maryland U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski said she would be supporting the deal. It’s widely expected that all Senate Republicans will be voting against it. Pennsylvania’s other U.S. senator, Pat Toomey, has already stated he will vote against it, calling it “a dangerous deal.”

Casey’s support for the treaty ended a lengthy period of deliberation, which he said included several talks with Obama and Secretary of State John Kerry.

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