'Not Legally Binding'

The Obama administration won't submit any deal limiting Iran's nuclear ambitions to Congress for approval because it won't be legally binding, Secretary of State John Kerry said Wednesday.

"We've been clear from the beginning we're not negotiating a legally binding plan. We're negotiating a plan that will have a capacity for enforcement," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

"We don't even have diplomatic relations with Iran right now."

Kerry, who was visibly irritated by what he called misconceptions by lawmakers about the ongoing talks, was criticizing an open letter to Iran's leaders signed by 47 Republican senators. The letter has angered Democrats, but appears not to have slowed bipartisan efforts to force congressional approval of a deal, in spite of stiff opposition by the Obama administration.

As he spoke, committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., who did not sign the letter but is a sponsor of legislation to require approval of any deal, cut him off.

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