WH won’t predict outcome of Iran sanctions vote

White House press secretary Josh Earnest wouldn’t say Friday if he believed the administration had the votes to sustain a veto on legislation that would trigger additional sanctions on Iran if nuclear talks fail.

“Fortunately for the White House, I’m not responsible for counting votes,” Earnest said.

Earnest said there was an “open dialogue” with lawmakers and that be believed the president’s argument against the legislation was “pretty persuasive.”

“I think there is plenty of indication that at least some members of Congress have found this rather plausible,” Earnest said.

{mosads}Sens. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) and Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) are introducing a bill that would hit Tehran with additional economic penalties if negotiators are unable to reach a deal ending the country’s nuclear weapons program.

Last week, President Obama warned that bill could jeopardize the talks and increase the risk of war.

“I’m asking Congress to hold off because our negotiators, our partners, those most intimately involved in this assess that it would jeopardize” the chances of a deal, Obama said in a press conference with British Prime Minister David Cameron.

Earnest said that much of the international community “would understandably perceive that as a violation of that agreement” in which world powers agreed not to impose additional sanctions as the talks were ongoing.

“We have been quite clear of why we have concerns about this piece of legislation passing the U.S. Congress right now,” he said.

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) responded to the veto threat by unilaterally inviting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a critic of the Iran negotiations, to address a joint session of Congress later this year.

Earnest repeated that the invitation — and its acceptance — was a “departure from protocol,” but refused to say if administration officials were angered or frustrated by the move.

The White House spokesman also said that the administration objected to legislation from Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that would subject an eventual deal to an up-or-down vote in Congress.

Earnest said that such a bill would leave an “open question” of whether the U.S. would actually be able to stand behind agreements it made at the negotiating table, and could “undermine” efforts to strike a deal.