President Barack Obama signed into law on Friday legislation giving lawmakers a chance to review any nuclear deal the White House seeks to hammer out with Iran.
The U.S. and five other world powers have crafted a delicate framework with Iran to keep it from developing nuclear weapons. The nuclear deal with Iran is a key part of the president’s foreign policy legacy, a fact he underscored during an interview this week with The Atlantic.
The law gives Congress at least a month to review the details of an agreement. During the review, the president would be prevented from lifting congressionally imposed sanctions on Iran.
"Look, 20 years from now, I'm still going to be around, God willing. If Iran has a nuclear weapon, it's my name on this," the president said in The Atlantic interview with took place on Tuesday and was published on Thursday. "I think it's fair to say that in addition to our profound national-security interests, I have a personal interest in locking this down."
The president’s signing of the legislation into law comes a week after Obama met with leaders of Gulf nations at Camp David. During the summit, the president stressed to leaders from such countries as Saudi Arabia, a close U.S. ally, that a nuclear deal with Iran is the best way to help shore up security in the region.
"Here at Camp David, we agreed that a comprehensive, verifiable solution that fully addresses the region's and international concerns about Iran's nuclear problem is in the security interests of the international community, including our (Gulf nation) partners," Obama said during a press conference last week.
