Obama and Senator Robert Menendez Spar on How to Handle Iran
By MICHAEL D. SHEAR The New York Times JAN. 15, 2015
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/16/us/politics/obama-and-senator-robert-menendez-spar-on-how-to-handle-iran.html?_r=1

President Obama and Senator Robert Menendez traded sharp words on Thursday
over whether Congress should vote to impose new sanctions on Iran while the
administration is negotiating with Tehran about its nuclear program,
according to two people who witnessed the exchange.

In the course of the argument, which was described as tense but generally
respectful, Mr. Obama vowed to veto legislation being drafted by Mr.
Menendez, Democrat of New Jersey, and Senator Mark Kirk, Republican of
Illinois, that would trigger sanctions after multiparty talks are set to end
this summer.

Their face-off occurred behind closed doors at the Hilton in Baltimore,
where the two-day Senate Democratic Issues Conference was taking place. The
president spoke to the senators for nearly two hours, and several people
said he was well received by members of his party as he vowed to remain on
the political offensive during the final two years of his presidency.

His exchange with Mr. Menendez occurred near the end of a
question-and-answer session after Senator Angus King of Maine - an
independent who caucuses with the Democrats - asked for an update to the
nuclear talks.

According to one of the senators and another person who was present, the
president urged lawmakers to stop pursuing sanctions, saying such a move
would undermine his authority and could derail the talks. Mr. Obama also
said that such a provocative action could lead international observers to
blame the Americans, rather than the Iranians, if the talks collapsed before
the June 30 deadline.

The president said he understood the pressures that senators face from
donors and others, but he urged the lawmakers to take the long view rather
than make a move for short-term political gain, according to the senator.
Mr. Menendez, who was seated at a table in front of the podium, stood up and
said he took “personal offense.”

Mr. Menendez told the president that he had worked for more than 20 years to
curb Iran’s nuclear ambitions and had always been focused on the long-term
implications. Mr. Menendez also warned the president that sanctions could
not be imposed quickly if Congress waited to act and the talks failed,
according to two people who were present.

“It was a forceful exchange between two strong personalities,” the senator,
who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss private conversations,
said. “It was not an angry exchange. It was clear, forceful, vigorous.”

White House officials and a Menendez spokeswoman declined to comment
Thursday night.

Several senators said the president impressed the group by insisting that he
would continue to be aggressive in the face of the Republican-controlled
Congress on immigration, Cuba, housing, medical leave and other issues.

One senator said Mr. Obama opened his remarks by accepting some
responsibility for the drubbing that Democratic lawmakers took in the
November elections, but also spoke forcefully about the improving economic
numbers and the need for party unity.

“It was a very direct and frank, but not in any way unfriendly or hostile,”
a second senator said. “Plainly, we have a path forward through
administrative and executive actions, even if there are obstacles in the
legislative process.”


Correction: January 17, 2015

An article on Friday about tensions between the White House and Congress
over sanctions on Iran misstated the timing of sanctions that would be
imposed under one proposal in the Senate. The legislation includes a trigger
that would impose sanctions only after the June 30 deadline for nuclear
negotiations with Iran. The sanctions would not be imposed before talks are
completed.

A version of this article appears in print on January 16, 2015, on page A8
of the New York edition with the headline: Obama and Senator Spar on How to
Handle Iran