Obama: Republicans oppose Iran agreement because my name on it

US President Barrack Obama says Republican lawmakers are opposing the Iran nuclear agreement for political reasons.

Obama told NPR News in an interview on Sunday that Republicans are against the deal because his name is attached to it.

"Unfortunately, a large portion of the Republican Party, if not a near unanimous portion of Republican representatives, are going to be opposed to anything that I do," Obama told NPR News.

The US president also said people will recognize the merits of the nuclear accord once it is implemented.

“When this agreement is implemented… and we’ve got inspectors on the ground and it becomes clear that Iran in fact is abiding by this agreement, then attitudes will change, because people will recognize that, in fact, whatever parade of horribles was presented in opposition have not come true,”  he stated.

Iran and the P5+1 group of countries - the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, and Germany – announced the conclusion of nuclear negotiations in the Austrian capital, Vienna, on July 14, following more than two weeks of intensive talks.

The US Congress is reviewing the Iran nuclear agreement and is likely to vote on it in September.

Most Republicans oppose the nuclear agreement with Iran, but they need a two-thirds vote in both chambers of Congress to override a possible presidential veto, and to reach that threshold, Republicans need Democratic support.

Obama has already threatened to veto any legislation to block the Iran agreement.

The US president has however been trying hard to win support for the accord on which Congress is to vote next month.

Analysts say Republican candidates are opposing the nuclear agreement to avoid angering the pro-Israel lobby and preventing their Democratic rivals from getting any political advantage by resolving the Iranian nuclear issue.

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