Rubio: Iran deal is not ‘binding on the next administration’

President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran can be undone by the next occupant of the Oval Office, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said Wednesday.



“This is not a treaty, there’s nothing about this that’s binding on the next administration,” Rubio, a presidential candidate, said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” Wednesday.

He vowed to strike down the deal and institute harsher economic sanctions on the Islamic Republic if he wins the White House.

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“When I’m president of the United States, we will reimpose those sanctions on Day 1, and then I will go to Congress, ask them even to increase sanctions more, and I will back that up with a credible threat of military force,” Rubio said.



“A simple message to the Ayatollah: If you try to build a weapon, we will destroy your program.”

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) on Wednesday came out in support of the deal, giving the president the last of the 34 votes he would need to sustain a veto of legislation killing the deal.

“No deal is perfect, especially one negotiated with the Iranian regime,” the Maryland Democrat, who is retiring after her current term, said in a statement. “I have concluded that this Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action is the best option available to block Iran from having a nuclear bomb. For these reasons, I will vote in favor of this deal.”

The nuclear agreement aims to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, in exchange for lifting international trade sanctions.

If Congress does not stop the deal, it will begin to take effect next month.