国际英语新闻:Obama Calls Out Critics of Iran Nuclear Accord

Eradicating the prospect of nuclear weapons in Iran is something Obama has repeatedly described as an objective shared by international and domestic entities alike, including Democratic and Republican members of Congress.

The agreement, which represents the biggest step toward rapprochement between Iran and the West since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, is also perceived as a political triumph for Obama, who has made outreach to America's enemies a hallmark of his presidency.

It is also seen as his biggest foreign policy gamble since taking office in 2009.

Americans held in Iran

Obama said the United States is continuing to pressure Iran to release three Americans being held by Tehran, including Washington Post correspondent Jason Rezaian, former Marine Amir Hekmati, Christian pastor Saeed Abedini and ex-FBI Agent Robert Levinson, whose whereabouts in Iran remains unknown.

Some critics of the Iran deal said the president should not have agreed to it without the return of the four to the United States.

Obama said the U.S. did not include the status of the jailed Americans in the nuclear talks because it would have made it more difficult to walk away from a deal the U.S. did not like. He also said he didn't want to encourage Iran to use the prisoners as leverage in the talks.

Securing support

Kicking off what is expected to be a lengthy campaign to lock in political support for the historic deal, Vice President Joseph Biden arrived at Congress shortly after 9 a.m. Wednesday for a closed-door meeting to brief minority Democrats in the House of Representatives.

One lawmaker quoted Biden as saying that "nothing in this agreement takes the military option off the table" for an attack against Iran if it violates the deal and starts building a nuclear weapon.

Another said the vice president contended that "the entire sanctions regime" that has been imposed against Iran to pressure it to complete a deal "would crumble" if the pact negotiated by the United States and five other world powers is not implemented.

Once Congress is handed the formal agreement, it has 60 days to consider whether to reject it, and even it does, Obama has promised to veto such legislation. If that were to happen, both houses of Congress would then have to produce a two-thirds majority to override the president's veto.

One vocal Republican opponent of the deal, Senator John McCain, who lost the 2008 presidential election to Obama, acknowledged to VOA that it "is likely" that the deal will eventually be approved