washington<u+2014>top administration officials forcefully defended the iran nuclear deal thursday before the senate foreign relations committee in the face of unified gop opposition and some democratic skepticism about the deal<u+2019>s capability to deter a nuclear iran.









if congress scuttles the deal "we will have squandered the best chance we have to solve this problem through peaceful means," said secretary of state john kerry, who appeared alongside energy secretary ernest moniz and treasury secretary jack lew.









thursday<u+2019>s hearing is the first public congressional forum to review terms of an agreement struck by the u.s., iran and five other nations and unanimously supported by the<u+00a0>united nations security council.









lawmakers are expected to vote on the deal this fall<u+00a0>in what will be one of the<u+00a0>most significant foreign policy votes to occur during the obama presidency.









republicans in particular levied harsh critiques of the agreement to limit iran's nuclear ambitions in exchange for easing sanctions. <u+201c>with all due respect, you guys have been bamboozled, and the american people are going to pay for that," said sen. james risch, r-idaho.









sen. marco rubio, r-fla., a 2016 presidential candidate who has carved out a role as a foreign policy hawk, had a testy exchange with kerry.









"i listened to a long list of your objections here about it, but there is no alternative that you or anybody else has proposed"<u+00a0>to stop a nuclear iran,<u+00a0>kerry said.<u+00a0><u+201c>i sure have, secretary kerry,<u+201d> rubio responded.









"i am confident that the next president of the united states will have enough common sense that if this is being applied properly, if it is being implemented fully, they<u+2019>re not going to arbitrarily end it," kerry replied.









kerry said any congressional effort to undermine the deal would send a message that america can<u+2019>t be trusted in international negotiations after leading world powers all signed off on the deal. the message would be: <u+201c>we<u+2019>ve got 535 secretaries of state and you can<u+2019>t deal with anybody, and that's going to undo a whole bunch of efforts and a whole bunch of things that matter in the world<u+201d> kerry said.









rubio also chastised the administration for not doing more to secure the release of american hostages, including washington post reporter jason rezaian, who has been imprisoned for a year. rezaian<u+2019>s brother attended thursday<u+2019>s hearing.









the panel<u+2019>s chairman, sen. bob corker, r-tenn., blasted "hyperbole" from the administration that "it's either this deal or war" and listed a number of weaknesses he sees in the agreement regarding the caliber of the inspections, the timeline to ease sanctions, and iran's ability to continue a nuclear program.









"i'd have to say that, based on my reading -- and i believe that you have crossed a new threshold in u.s. foreign policy -- where now it is a policy of the united states to enable a state sponsor of terror to obtain sophisticated, industrial nuclear development program that has, as we know, only one real practical need," corker said.









even the panel's top democrats, sen. ben cardin, d-md., and bob menendez, d-n.j., appeared skeptical about the deal, and neither has indicated they can support it yet.









congress has until sept. 17 to vote to approve, disapprove or take no action at all. obama has said he would veto any bill to block it.









with republicans in control of congress and party leaders working to kill the deal, the administration's strategy appears to be to shore up enough democratic support to block a veto override, which would require the support of at least 34 senators or 146 house members.









to that end, the trio of administration officials met privately thursday afternoon<u+00a0>with house democrats. minority leader nancy pelosi, d-calif., is helping the administration shore up the support president obama needs.









"i feel very confident we're going to have enough votes" to block a veto override, said rep. jan schakowsky, d-ill., who supports the agreement,<u+00a0>following the meeting.
administration officials defend iran nuclear deal
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