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| Republican effort to block Iran nuclear deal faces Senate day of decision | Republican effort to block Iran nuclear deal faces Senate day of decision |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| The US Senate will vote on Thursday on Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, with Democrats poised to prevent Republican efforts to block the agreement. | |
| Related: Iran deal reaches Congress: what happens next and why it matters | Related: Iran deal reaches Congress: what happens next and why it matters |
| Senators will hold a procedural vote on a resolution of disapproval of the deal, which will require 60 votes to advance. Republicans are unanimously opposed to the accord struck by Iran and six world powers in July, leaving Democrats to determine the outcome. | |
| Democrats are expected to filibuster the resolution, thereby defeating it, an outcome which would mark a major victory for the Obama administration on a legacy-defining issue for the president. | |
| Forty-two Senate Democrats have publicly backed the agreement, with just a handful of defections. | |
| In a Senate floor speech on Thursday Mitch McConnell, the Republican majority leader, said a Democratic filibuster of the motion of disapproval would amount to a “tragedy”. | |
| “I know some of our colleagues are currently under immense pressure to shut down the voice of the people,” said McConnell, from Kentucky. “But I ask colleagues to reflect on the gravely serious nature of the issue before us.” | “I know some of our colleagues are currently under immense pressure to shut down the voice of the people,” said McConnell, from Kentucky. “But I ask colleagues to reflect on the gravely serious nature of the issue before us.” |
| Republican leaders in the House of Representatives were instead eyeing a vote on a motion of approval, in an attempt to force Democrats to put their support for the agreement to a vote. | |
| The strategy would be “about holding every member accountable for their vote”, the House speaker, John Boehner, told reporters. | |
| Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, said the House would use “every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay this agreement from being fully implemented”. | Boehner, a Republican from Ohio, said the House would use “every tool at our disposal to stop, slow and delay this agreement from being fully implemented”. |
| “This debate is far from over,” he said, “and frankly it’s just beginning.” | “This debate is far from over,” he said, “and frankly it’s just beginning.” |
| The July deal struck between Iran and six world powers provides Tehran relief from crippling economic sanctions in exchange for limits on its nuclear program. | |
| Republicans complain the deal does not do away with the program altogether, fails to provide for spot inspections of nuclear sites or force Iran to end support for militant groups like Hamas. |