Supporters of Iran deal near key vote total to back up Obama

WASHINGTON (AP) — Supporters of the Iran nuclear deal are on the cusp of clinching the necessary Senate votes to keep the contested agreement alive and hand President Barack Obama a major foreign policy victory, in spite of furious opposition.

Republicans in Congress and on the presidential campaign unanimously oppose the deal, which aims to curb Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.

[...] critics have failed to use Congress' summer recess to turn the tide against the agreement, despite a multimillion-dollar lobbying campaign funded by the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.

State Department officials said Tuesday that Secretary of State John Kerry will send a letter to all members of Congress on Wednesday outlining U.S. security commitments to Israel and the Gulf Arab states.

"Three facts about this flawed deal are crystal clear - polls show the American people reject it, a bipartisan majority in Congress will oppose it and no major arms control agreement has ever been approved with only the support of a partisan congressional minority," said AIPAC spokesman Marshall Wittmann.

[...] Casey said in a phone interview with The Associated Press, "I never got information that was in any way persuasive that walking away could lead to either a better agreement or frankly an enhanced security environment."