U.S. VP slams Republican senators for sending "highly misleading" signal to Iran

U.S. Vice President Joe Biden on Monday lashed out at Republican senators for sending a letter to Iranian leaders that warns against a potential deal on Tehran's nuclear program.

The letter "sends a highly misleading signal to friend and foe alike that our Commander-in-Chief cannot deliver on America's commitments -- a message that is as false as it is dangerous," Biden said in a statement. < Forty-seven U.S. Republican Senators warned in the open letter on Monday that a deal over Iran's nuclear program will be at risk once President Barack Obama leaves office, Bloomberg News reported.

"It has come to our attention while observing your nuclear negotiations with our government that you may not fully understand our constitutional system ... Anything not approved by Congress is a mere executive agreement," the senators wrote.

"The next president could revoke such an executive agreement with the stroke of a pen and future Congresses could modify the terms of the agreement at any time," the letter read.

Noting that the vast majority of U.S. international commitments take effect without Congressional approval, Biden said the Senators' intervention "would be a dangerous mistake to scuttle a peaceful resolution, especially while diplomacy is still underway."

The letter, organized by Senator Tom Cotton and signed by the chamber's entire Republican leadership, is meant not just to discourage Tehran from signing a deal but also to pressure the White House into giving Congress some authority over the process.

Many members of Congress are concerned that the Obama administration will sign off on a deal that is not strict enough, or that only delays Iran's ability to get a nuclear weapon.

The P5+1 group (the U.S., Britain, France, China, Russia and Germany) is negotiating with Iran over its nuclear program in hopes of reaching a framework deal by the end of the month. The deal would likely oblige Iran to cut back its nuclear program -- reportedly for at least ten years -- in exchange for a loosening of crippling economic sanctions.

U.S. media reported last year that the White House was going to try to avoid having to seek congressional approval for the deal.

On Sunday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell warned Obama not to agree to an unsatisfactory deal over Iran's nuclear program.

"Obviously, the president doesn't want us involved in this. But he's going to need us if he's going to lift any of the existing sanctions. And so I think he cannot work around Congress forever," McConnell said in an interview aired on CBS' "Face the Nation." Endi