Obama administration allies warned of the risk of war and skeptical Republican senators charged that U.S. negotiators had been "fleeced" by Iran as the first prominent face-off in the debate over the proposed nuclear agreement began Thursday.
From the opening moments of the hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations committee, a key difference emerged, with administration officials and their allies seeking to keep the focus on the specific impact the deal would have on Iran's nuclear program while Republican opponents emphasized Iran's hostility to the U.S. on a wide range of other issues.
Commitee chairman Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, for example, denounced Iran's support for Shiite militias in Iraq, which repeatedly attacked American troops during the U.