Bobby Jindal signs open letter to Iran

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal has signed the open letter to Iran warning that any nuclear deal it reaches during talks with U.S. and international negotiators might not last beyond the Obama administration, Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) announced Tuesday.  

{mosads}Jindal, who is a potential 2016 Republican presidential candidate, is the first governor and official not serving in Congress to add his name to the list of 47 Senate Republican signatories. 

Another prospective 2016 presidential candidate, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, said on Twitter that “he would be proud and honored” to sign the Iran letter. 

I would be proud and honored to sign the letter @SenTomCotton has put forward on Iran. http://t.co/9baorGM0iq

— Rick Perry (@GovernorPerry) March 10, 2015

The signatures come after Cotton — the letter’s author — asked 2016 presidential candidates to sign on. The letter warns Iran that Congress will have to play a role in any deal if its leaders hope to enter a lasting agreement. 

“Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement,” said the letter, which was first reported Sunday by Bloomberg and publicly announced Monday. 

The White House and Senate Democrats have blasted the letter as a partisan attempt to undermine the president and undercut the negotiations, which are due to produce a political framework agreement by March 24. 

All but seven Senate Republicans have signed the letter: Sens. Bob Corker (Tenn.), Susan Collins (Maine), Dan Coats (Ind.), Thad Cochran (Miss.), Lamar Alexander (Tenn.), Jeff Flake (Ariz.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska). 

Jindal told reporters Monday during a trip to De Moines at a conference of evangelical pastors that he has been calling for such a letter for awhile. 

“I’ve been saying it for some time now,” Jindal said, according to The New York Times. 

He also told reporters that he might have been first on the idea, which he said he discussed at an American Enterprise Institute conference where Cotton was in attendance. 

“I suspect so,” he said. “He was in the audience … when this discussion came up.”

— Updated 4:03 p.m. ET