Is the Iran Nuclear Deal being saved?

President Donald Trump took a crucial step to preserve the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal on Friday – and now, for Congress, comes the hard part.

Trump heeded the reported recommendation of his advisers and extended sanctions relief to Iran under the 2015 nuclear pact, giving senior senators in both parties additional time for talks on legislation re-jigging the offer that were already advancing on the edge of a knife.

Any Iran measure which can be agreed upon by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and the panel’s top Democrat, Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland, would need to navigate past hostility from hawks who prefer to unravel the nuclear agreement and view Trump as their natural ally. That’s not forgetting guaranteed skepticism of any changes to the nuclear deal from liberals who hailed the agreement that former President Barack Obama reached to curtail Tehran’s nuclear program.

Corker and Cardin, working with the president’s national security adviser, H.R. McMaster, have made some progress on the outlines of an idea to tweak the 2015 legislation that gave Congress power to review the nuclear deal. But their negotiations can merely truly heat up given that Trump has offered further sanctions relief.

The White House coupled its sanctions decision with a vow that Trump would seek a fresh Iran agreement with European allies that signed onto the 2015 deal. Trump added a warning that Friday would be the last time he waives the penalties without the stronger terms for the nuclear deal that he has demanded and outlined four conditions for Iran legislation, a ticking clock that may inject a feeling of urgency into lawmakers’ talks.

However, winning 60 votes for a fresh Iran measure will prove a herculean task. At least it’s one at which some colleagues in both parties are rooting for Corker and Cardin to succeed.

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