Israelis like Senate bill on Iran

"We are certainly happy this morning," declared Israel's Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz on Wednesday as he hailed the U.S. Congress's passage of a bill giving the legislative body oversight of any nuclear deal with Iran.

Steinitz, who is believed to be a close confidant of Prime Minister Netanyahu, declared that the PM's activism on the Iran issue, including his controversial speech to Congress, "was decisive in achieving this law."

He called the passage of the bill "a very important element in preventing a bad deal, or at the very least, in improving the agreement and making it more plausible." He also called it "added pressure and another barrier in the face of a bad deal."

Moreover, he claimed that the bill would force "the administration and the negotiating team" to "make more of an effort to seal gaps and to achieve an agreement that looks better, or at the very least more reasonable, so that it will pass in Congress."

Hawkish critics of the framework agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran have pushed hard for the bill, which would give Congress the power to approve or prevent any upcoming deal with Iran."



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