Kerry tries to convince US Congress to support Iran n-deal

Washington, April 14
US Secretary of State John Kerry tried to dissuade several members of Congress from pushing a bill that could overturn the interim nuclear agreement with Iran, the Voice of America news reported on Tuesday.

Kerry and other senior State Department officials held a closed-door meeting on Monday with a group of legislators from the House of Representatives, and planned to do the same on Tuesday with select senators.

The US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations will convene on Tuesday to draft a bill calling for a 60-day delay of implementing the nuclear deal to give time to Congress to review the provisions and give its final approval to lift sanctions against Iran.

The bill would need to be approved by two-thirds of Congress to override President Barack Obama's legislation or veto power.

It is unclear how many Democrats would join Republicans to move the bill forward, prompting the White House to send a delegation led by Kerry, Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew, and Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz to Congress to dissuade lawmakers from blocking the plan.