Iran hawks are so eager to derail negotiations with Iran that they are proposing amendments that would make it less likely that the Corker-Cardin bill could even pass the Senate:

A bill to give Congress a voice in the nuclear deal with Iran is now endangered by Republican amendments that would peel away bipartisan support for a measure begrudgingly accepted by the White House this month.

Amendments filed by lawmakers last week include one that would require Iran to recognize Israel and another that would give any final nuclear deal the status of a treaty, which would require ratification by two-thirds of the Senate. Another proposal would require the release of American citizens detained in Iran as part of an agreement.

If any of these amendments were adopted, the bill would be vetoed, so it’s not clear what the would-be saboteurs hope to accomplish at this point. Corker-Cardin is an unnecessary piece of legislation, and it would probably be good news for a final deal if the Senate couldn’t pass it. Support for Corker-Cardin is very likely to lose quite a few votes if it includes any of these amendments.

If they can tack on their amendments, the Iran hawks that desperately want to kill off any deal with Iran will be making it easier for Obama to veto the Corker-Cardin bill and ignore complaints from Congress about the final nuclear deal. Iran hawks can either support a bill that their ideological enforcers deem inadequate to sabotage the deal, or they can modify the bill enough to satisfy the enforcers while ensuring that the bill goes nowhere. The amendments that Iran hawks think will “strengthen” the bill will more likely end up sinking it. It is a measure of how clueless the hard-liners still are that most of them don’t understand any of this.