Alaska's senators split on a controversial Republican letter to Iranian government leaders that cast doubt on any potential nuclear agreement with the Obama administration.
Sen. Lisa Murkowski was among the seven Republican dissenters who declined to sign the letter, which was led by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and signed by 47 members, all Republicans.
Murkowski is supporting an effort by Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee that would give the Senate authority to review any agreement with Iran and approve or reject it.
"Senator Murkowski believes in congressional input on foreign affairs. As a co-sponsor of Chairman Corker's bill that would allow a 60-day evaluation of the final deal for Senate approval or disapproval, she did not see the need to also sign the Cotton letter," said a statement emailed by Murkowski spokesman Matthew Felling.
Sen. Dan Sullivan did sign the letter, which told Iranian leaders that lack of congressional approval would make any agreement only temporary.
Sullivan press secretary Mike Anderson initially declined to provide a statement on the letter and referred any questions to the senator's appearance Monday on Fox News.
Host Greta Van Susteren criticized the Republicans' strategy.
"When you get drawn into our dirty laundry, or political squabbles in this country and you go to your enemies – they're our enemy – when you go to our enemy and you, sort of like, send a letter to them, I think it looks bad," she said in the nearly 5-minute segment. "For some reason, I don't like the idea of end-running to Iran."
"Well, it's not end-running to the Iranians," Sullivan told her. "What we were doing is we were trying to enlighten the Iranian leadership on what happens if Congress is not involved. Obviously, the president is telling the Iranians that he doesn't need Congress' involvement, and to me, that's the key issue here."
Later Tuesday, Anderson emailed a statement from Sullivan.
"On one of the most important national security issues in a generation, the idea that the president and Secretary Kerry will negotiation (sic) this deal with Iran alone -- with the largest state sponsor of terrorism -- flies in the face of the U.S. Constitution, the law, and four decades of arms control and civil nuclear agreement precedent," Sullivan said in a statement of explanation emailed to Alaska Dispatch News. "Like those numerous previous agreements, whatever deal the president cuts with Iran has to be acceptable to the American people and voted on by their representatives in Congress."