Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire said Monday that despite recent negotiation setbacks, she has no regrets in joining 46 other Republican Senators earlier this month in signing a letter addressed to Iran.
The letter warned Iranian leaders that any nuclear deal signed with President Obama would not last past his second term if Congress was not allowed to weigh in.
The Senators have received flak from colleagues across the aisle, arguing that the letter only stalled negotiations further putting the country at risk.
But Ayotte, who was in her hometown of Nashua Monday morning visiting her local YMCA, said what is more troubling is that Congress is being left out of the conversation.
“What I think is the worst is that the President doesn’t want the congress to weigh in on what will be a very significant agreement that has impact on the national security of our nation, and the world, and the fact that he does not want Congress to weigh in to me is very disturbing,” Ayotte said, adding that according to U.S. law negotiated treaties must be approved by the Senate.
Ayotte also argues that the current negotiations do not go far enough.
“What matters is yes I would like to get an agreement, but I want to make sure it is one that ends their program, is transparent, and I think we should be addressing their support for regional terrorism which is undermining security in the region,” she said referring to their support in Yemen and Syria.
Ayotte is currently co-sponsoring a bipartisan bill that would give Congress a say in the agreement.
On Sunday Iranian officials said that they are no longer willing to ship their atomic fuel out of the country, which was a critical term settled in the agreement with the West.
The six world powers that are negotiating with Iran are Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the United States. Negotiations are set to wrap up by Tuesday at midnight.
