Sen. McConnell: Iran 'One of the Worst Regimes in the World'

The United States cannot ignore all of Iran's other behavior in the region when seeking to sign a deal on its nuclear program, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told "Face the Nation" on Sunday.

"The Iranians are fomenting trouble in Syria, in Lebanon, in Gaza, in Yemen," the Kentucky Republican said. "All over the Middle East they're on the march. They have enhanced influence in Iraq."

Iran also is responsible for building IEDs that have killed and injured American military personnel in the Iraq War.

"This is a very, very dangerous regime," McConnell said.

And, he said, President Barack Obama appears not to want Congress involved in the deal, probably because the deal is so bad.

A number of Democrats have sponsored a bill that would require congressional approval of any deal, though they appear less willing to vote on it, McConnell said. McConnell agreed to put debate on the bill on hold last week after Democrat co-sponsors said they wanted to wait until after negotiators' late-March deadline for reaching a deal.

"He doesn't want us to have any role to play in this. I'm hoping we get 67 senators to assert the historic role of the Senate and the Congress in looking at matters of this magnitude," he said. "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 he cannot work around Congress forever."

McConnell said it appears the current deal on the table will leave Iran's nuclear infrastructure in place "with one of the worst regimes in the world," he said. "So I'm very worried about it."

Related Stories:

• McConnell Postpones Iran Debate in Senate After Dems Object
• Mitch McConnell: Obama Doesn't Set Our Agenda