<p>The Obama administration is moving forward with the Iran nuclear deal. After losing a final vote on Thursday, Senate Republicans were forced to concede defeat.  ;Not one to waste time implementing unpopular decisions, President Obama vowed to issue waivers suspending all U.S. nuclear-related sanctions on Oct. 18.</p>
<p>Senate Republicans were not aiming to simply tear up the deal, as the Democratic opposition has accused. Thursday&#8217;s proposal would have barred any waivers unless Iran acknowledged Israel as a country and ;released four American prisoners it is holding. Although Iran will make over 100 billion dollars and be allowed access to international weapons markets as a result of this deal, Senate Democrats felt freeing ;the four American hostages to be reunited with their ;families was too much to ask for. ;</p>
<p>Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that the Democrats had &ldquo;made their choice and would be as responsible as Obama for a deal that would allow billions of dollars to flow into Iranian coffers to use for terrorism.&#8221;</p>
<p>The supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and President Hassan Rouhani are reacting to the deal&#8217;s completion in radically different ways.</p>
<p>&ldquo;We have announced that we will not negotiate with the Americans on any issue other than the nuclear case,&rdquo; Mr. Khamenei said this month. Speaking to a group of hard-line students recently he was even more explicit, telling them to &ldquo;prepare for the continuation of the fight against America.&rdquo;</p>
<p>By contast, Mr. Rouhani called the deal &ldquo;a beginning for creating an atmosphere of friendship and cooperation with various countries.&rdquo;</p>
<p>Only time will tell which vision will come into fruition. In the mean time, Israel and four American hostages will be forced to pay the price for such &#8220;friendship and cooperation.&#8221;</p>