A special committee of parliament, where conservative hardliners close to Khamenei are predominant, have begun reviewing the deal before putting it to a vote.

But the “yes” list in the Senate reached 38 on Friday, as Michael Bennet of Colorado announced his support for the deal.

Some Iranian MPs want the government to submit the deal as a bill for parliament to vote on.

President Barack Obama has achieved comparable support for the Iran deal in the House of Representatives, including the vote of Rep. Mike Doyle, a Democrat from Forest Hills.

Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas, who is running for president, invited his fellow Republican candidate, businessman Donald Trump, to appear with him at the U.S. Capitol next Wednesday at a rally to oppose the Iran nuclear deal. The White House is also reportedly pushing for the deal to be filibustered, so that Obama won’t have to veto a resolution disapproving the signature foreign policy accomplishment of his presidency. The discussion centered around the Iran nuclear agreement.

Khamenei said that without a cancellation of sanctions that have hobbled Iran’s economy, the deal would be jeopardised.

“We have looked at the details of this agreement and we have come to the conclusion that this does in fact meet that test”, he said.

Al-Jubeir said Salman and Obama discussed a plan to improve American military cooperation with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, announced after a Camp David summit in May that Salman declined to attend.

Larijani, an ex-chief nuclear negotiator, said he personally considered the accord good but some stiff opposition remained in the Majlis (parliament), including over a so-called “snapback” clause under which United Nations sanctions can be reinstated in the event of alleged violations of the terms of the settlement.

Saudi officials said the king sought a written agreement from Obama stating that the U.S.is “prepared to defend against any attempt that threatens the security” of the Gulf Cooperation Council, a coalition of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Oman. The economic sanctions are our “greatest leverage”, said Toomey.

Cardin’s position is critical because he is a top-ranking Jewish Democrat. As a leading Jewish Democrat, he was also under strong pressure from segments of the Jewish community to turn down the deal, which is ardently opposed by Israel. The latest Democrat to announce backing was Sen. So far, 29 Democrats have announced support for the deal. They are three votes short of the number needed to block it from passing. Among those, opponents of the deal have focused their efforts on eight of them, according to one lobbyist: Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Cory Booker of New Jersey, Maria Cantwell of Washington, Ben Cardin of Maryland, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota, Mark Warner of Virginia and Ron Wyden of Oregon. He concludes by saying that “several leading Democratic senators and members of the House have joined Republicans in opposing the deal”.