Warren will back Iran deal

Sen. Elizabeth Warren will vote to defend the nuclear deal with Iran, helping to shore up Democratic support for the agreement negotiated by President Obama’s administration.

The Massachusetts Democrat offered her unequivocal support for the accord to The Boston Globe this weekend, ending ambiguity about her stance. 

{mosads}“The question now before Congress — the only question before Congress — is whether the recently announced nuclear agreement represents our best available option for preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon,” she said in a statement to the newspaper. “I am convinced that it does.”

Warren is extremely popular among liberals and her endorsement will go a long way toward bolstering White House arguments for the pact.

The Obama administration is deep into a two-month lobbying campaign on the deal, and needs Democrats’ backing to keep the accord alive.

In September, Congress will vote on the deal, and the White House has been blitzing Democrats to make sure they have the president’s back.

Warren’s comments come after other signals that Democrats may be falling in line behind the president.

Also over the weekend, Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) called the agreement “the best viable option before us” and said he would support it.

Last week, lawmakers including Reps. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Sandy Levin (D-Mich.) also came out in support of the agreement.

Critics allege that the deal, which aims to limit Iran’s nuclear capacity in exchange for the rollback of sanctions, gives Iran too much of a free pass with weak inspections and makes it easier for it to build a nuclear bomb in 10 or 15 years.

In her statement, Warren dismissed those claims and said that it paves a course for the future.

“This nuclear agreement takes no options off the table,” she said.

“If it ultimately fails, future actions to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran will only be enhanced by the knowledge we gain from closely monitoring the Iranian nuclear program throughout the length of the deal,” she added. “If it ultimately succeeds, we will have neutralized a grave threat without resorting to war.”

Warren had previously declined to take a firm stance on the nuclear deal.

Last month, shortly after the agreement was reached during marathon multinational negotiating sessions, she issued a statement saying U.S. negotiators “deserve great credit” for the agreement, but declined to explicitly endorse it.