U.S. President Barack Obama’s effort to sell the Iran nuclear deal to a skeptical Congress has been dealt a serious setback, with one of the president’s top allies, Senator Chuck Schumer, coming out against the pact.

Schumer, a senator from the state of New York and one of the top Jewish lawmakers in the U.S., released the statement shortly after another influential Jewish Democrat, Representative Eliot Engel, also from New York state, announced his opposition to the deal.

“After deep study, careful thought, and considerable soul-searching, I have decided I must oppose the agreement and will vote yes on a motion of disapproval,” said Senator Schumer in a statement late Thursday.

“The very real risk that Iran will not moderate and will, instead, use the agreement to pursue its nefarious goals is too great,” Schumer said in opposing the pact. He said he based his decision on the nuclear and non-nuclear elements of the accord and on the question, “Are we better off with the agreement or without it?”

Schumer’s split with Obama was remarkable for a senior leader in line to replace Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., after he retires at the end of next year. His decision also put him at odds with the Democrats’ likely presidential nominee, Hillary Rodham Clinton, who has cautiously embraced the deal.

The likelihood has been increasing that U.S. lawmakers will pass a bill rejecting the Iran nuclear deal when they return from recess in September. President Obama says he would veto that decision, but needs the support of his fellow Democrats to sustain the veto.

The agreement, reached last month between Iran and six world powers, will lift sanctions in exchange for Tehran scaling back its nuclear program and allowing intrusive inspections at the facilities.

In a five-page statement explaining his concerns, Schumer said the inspections regime was inadequate. “Inspections are not ‘anywhere, anytime;’ the 24-day delay before we can inspect is troubling,” he said.

Schumer also expressed concern the money freed up by the sanctions relief will allow Iran to increase its funding for militant groups across the Middle East, further destabilizing the region.

“Better to keep U.S. sanctions in place, strengthen them, enforce secondary sanctions on other nations, and pursue the hard-trodden path of diplomacy once more, difficult as it may be,” he said.

President Obama defended the deal in an address Wednesday, saying it “cuts off all of Iran’s pathways to a bomb” and is the best way to prevent another U.S. war in the Middle East.

The White House has not yet responded to Schumer’s statement. It is not clear how many more of Schumer’s fellow Democratic members of Congress will follow his lead and publicly oppose the deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and several powerful pro-Israel lobby groups have been putting intense pressure on U.S. lawmakers to reject the deal, saying it will undermine the security of Israel and the West.

The Senate’s No. 2 Democrat, Dick Durbin of Illinois, supports the accord and has been working hard to persuade lawmakers to do the same.

The administration, which has lobbied intensely for the pact, has secured the backing of more than a dozen Senate Democrats and more than two-dozen House Democrats, including Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. Republicans, who control the House and Senate, have been uniformly opposed to the deal.

Schumer signaled that he wouldn’t lobby hard against the accord. The House and Senate will begin debate on a resolution of disapproval when lawmakers return to Washington on Sept. 8 after their August recess. The administration needs Democratic support to sustain a widely expected veto by Obama of any resolution of disapproval.

“There are some who believe that I can force my colleagues to vote my way,” Schumer said. “While I will certainly share my view and try to persuade them that the vote to disapprove is the right one, in my experience with matters of conscience and great consequence like this, each member ultimately comes to their own conclusion.”

Schumer had been under pressure as a congressional ally of Israel, leading fundraiser and strategist for his party, and lawmaker from a state that is home to more than a million-and-a-half Jews.

The media-friendly Schumer made the announcement through the blog Medium, not in a high-profile speech on the Senate floor like several of his colleagues. His statement also was posted as much of the political world was focused on the first Republican presidential candidate debate.

Non-partisan anti-proliferation group Global Zero on Thursday said it was disappointed in Schumer’s decision, saying the deal “is in the national security interests of the United States and our allies.”

“It would roll back Iran’s nuclear program, block all pathways to a nuclear weapon and impose unprecedentedly rigorous verification measures.  The vast majority of credible nuclear experts – including Israelis with top national security credentials – strongly support the agreement,” the statement added.

Congress returns from its break on September. It must vote on the nuclear agreement by September 17.

Some material for this report came from the Associated Press.
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