--- title: Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter description: President Obama said that he was embarrassed for the 47 Republican senators who sent a letter to Iran's leadership. canonical: https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/ author: Maya Rhodan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-13T14:33:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:59:41.721Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter og:description: He called it "unprecedented." og:url: https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=396&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 396 og:image:height: 223 og:image:alt: U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter twitter:description: He called it "unprecedented." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=396&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: Know Right Now: Iran Nuclear Talks Underway [Watch (HLS stream): Know Right Now: Iran Nuclear Talks Underway](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2OuZUi9W.m3u8) (1:03)  _Published 2015-03-21. The United States and Iran reported significant progress Saturday toward a nuclear agreement, with the Iranian president declaring a deal within reach._ by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 13, 2015 2:33 PM UTC  U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015. Pool—Getty Images by [Maya Rhodan](https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/) ## Maya Rhodan Mar 13, 2015 2:33 PM UTC President Obama said he’s “embarrassed” for the 47 Republican Senators who sent a letter to Iranian leaders earlier this week making a case against a pending deal on nuclear weapons. “For them to address a letter to the Ayatollah, who they claim is our mortal enemy, “ Obama says in a trailer for an interview with _Vice News_. “And their basic argument to them is ‘Don’t deal with our president cause you can’t trust him to follow through on an agreement.’ That’s close to unprecedented.” The President’s statements are among the many that have come out in the wake of the letter organized by freshman Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas. Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif called it a “propaganda ploy.” Vice President Joe Biden returned fire with a scathing letter to Congress released late Monday, saying in part “the decision to undercut our President and circumvent our constitutional system offends me as a matter of principle.” Seven Republican Senators did not sign the letter: Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, Susan Collins of Maine, Jeff Flake of Arizona, Dan Coats of Indiana, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. The President sat down with Shane Smith, the founder of _Vice News_ on Tuesday while in Atlanta for an event with the Democratic National Committee and a speech at Georgia Institute of Technology. The wide-ranging interview will be released in full next Monday, but a trailer for the conversation was released Friday morning. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/"},"headline":"Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter","datePublished":"2015-03-13T14:33:41.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:59:41.721Z","description":"President expressed his discontent in an interview with Vice News","url":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/","keywords":["Foreign Policy","Congress","White House"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Maya Rhodan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/maya-rhodan/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt4b9cef4c7fc670a1/69878311e20a875fe6a85828/465683960-copy.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015.","caption":"U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the National League of Cities annual Congressional City Conference in Washington on March 9, 2015.","creditText":"Pool—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/foreign-policy/","name":"Foreign Policy"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/","name":"Obama 'Embarrassed' for GOP Senators on Iran Letter"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Know Right Now: Iran Nuclear Talks Underway","description":"The United States and Iran reported significant progress Saturday toward a nuclear agreement, with the Iranian president declaring a deal within reach.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/2OuZUi9W/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-03-21T15:38:02.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/2OuZUi9W.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/","duration":"PT1M3S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3744054/obama-iran-letter-embarrassed/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```