Rubio: Next president can unilaterally kill Iran deal

The Iran nuclear deal could be moot as soon as President Obama leaves office, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) insisted on Thursday.

Rubio — who is considered to be in the top tier of GOP presidential candidates for 2016 — railed against the Obama administration’s deal during a Senate hearing and appeared to lay out his agenda if elected to the White House in 2016.  

{mosads}“I do think it’s important for the world and especially for Iran to understand that as far as American sanctions are concerned, this is a deal whose survival is not guaranteed beyond the term of the president,” Rubio told Secretary of State John Kerry, Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew.

“I personally hope that the next president is someone who will remove the national security waiver and reimpose the congressional sanctions that were passed by Congress, because this deal is fundamentally and irreparably flawed,” he added.

Choosing not to invoke the presidential waiver would allow sanctions to be levied against Iran, even in spite of the multinational agreement.

While the remarks are not necessarily surprising from Rubio — a noted hawk who has repeatedly criticized the Obama administration’s foreign policy — they spotlight how he’d respond to Iran if elected.

Lawmakers have 60 days to review the agreement reached between the U.S., Iran and five other nations. Republicans are expected to be united in their opposition, but it remains unclear whether there are enough Democrats to override President Obama’s certain veto of a motion to kill the deal.

“Even if this deal narrowly avoids congressional defeat because we can’t get to that veto-proof majority … the Iranian regime and the world should know that the majority of members of this Congress do not support this deal, and the deal can go away the day that President Obama leaves office,” Rubio said.