Doubts Remain as U.S.-Led Nuke Talks Near Fruition

JERUSALEM, Israel -- Negotiators in Vienna plan to announce an historic deal between the Unitede States, five other world powers, and Iran. The agreement aims to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon, but leaders in both Washington and Jerusalem are doubtful.

The pending deal would in theory limit Iran's nuclear program in exchange for relief from economic sanctions. After more than two weeks of talks and months of intense negotiations, the world powers seem on the cusp of a breakthrough in Vienna.

In Jerusalem, one Israeli analyst said the deal was possible only because the United States capitulated on almost every key issue of the negotiations.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the concessions given by the six world powers in Vienna won't lead to peace but will threaten world peace.

"Concessions even on issues which were considered as crossing red lines in the Lausanne deal, which is a bad deal on its own, it paves Iran's way to many nuclear bombs and gives Iran hundreds of billions of dollars to its terror and occupation system, and so this agreement is putting at risk the peace of the world," Netanyahu said.

Despite the negotiations, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his country remains an enemy of the United States. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani led a march during which demonstrators burned U.S. and Israeli flags and called for death to America and death to Israel.

Meanwhile in Washington, Democrat and Republican senators remained skeptical and said so on Sunday talk shows.

"Well, it makes me anxious because what a deal looks like is incredibly important," Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee told ABC's George Stephanopoulos on "This Week."

"And the problem here, George, is that we have gone from preventing Iran having a nuclear ability, to managing it," he continued. "And what we are doing is basically rolling back sanctions for -- not rolling back Iran's elicit nuclear infrastructure."

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, agreed, saying, "We already know that it's going to leave Iran as a threshold nuclear state. We know that."

"It appears as if the administration's approach to this was to reach whatever agreement the Iranians are willing to enter into," McConnell charged.

The Senate will have 60 days to review the deal sent by President Barack Obama.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., remained skeptical.

"So I think whatever deal comes out this weekend, it's going to be dangerous for the United States and dangerous for the world," Cotton said.

One danger many cite is the fear the deal will set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.

"I think it will," Middle East analyst and author Jonathan Spyer told CBN News. "You know, leaders of a whole number of countries, also Saudi Arabia, also Turkey has spoken of the possibility or the likelihood of their need to explore their own options. It will be a much more dangerous and volatile region."