Top GOP senator looking for common ground on Iran ahead of visit

The chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said Thursday that he hopes Congress and President Obama can find common ground on how to deal with Iran before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses a joint session of Congress in February.

{mosads}”My guess is, by the time he comes, Congress may be in sync as to what it wants to do. So I don’t know that he necessarily will be going against the president. There’s a lot that’s occurring,” Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) said while appearing on CNN’s “New Day.”

Netanyahu’s speech, during which he will almost certainly offer a position on Iran that contradicts Obama’s, was announced just a day after the president’s State of the Union address. During that speech, Obama said that he would veto new sanctions against Iran because they could jeopardize nuclear talks between the country and Western powers.

The U.S. and a group of other Western countries have been at the negotiating table with Iran for months. But when a deal couldn’t be reached late last year, the talks were extended into the middle of 2015, giving lawmakers a chance to pass additional sanctions against Iran.

Boehner’s invitation to Netanyahu shocked some in Washington when it was announced Wednesday. Many see it as a breach of protocol to invite a foreign leader who will likely rebuke a sitting president. Boehner has denied trying to antagonize the White House.

“I don’t believe I’m poking anyone in the eye,” he said on Wednesday.

Corker demurred when asked if he believed it was the right decision to invite the Israeli leader.

“Let me just say this: There’s a lot of water that will go under the bridge between now and the time that he arrives. And my guess is that we may be in a place where things are aligned in a very good way — that’s my goal,” he said.