Forty-seven Republican senators on Monday tried to sabatoge efforts by President Barack Obama and other world leaders to reach an agreement with Iran to curb Tehran’s development of nuclear weapons. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and several committee chairmen signed an open letter to Iranian officials saying any agreement struck with Obama would expire when his term in the White House runs out in 2017.

“It appears that for most of my Republican colleagues in the Senate, a war in Afghanistan and a war in Iraq were not enough. They now apparently want a war in Iran as well,” said Sen. Bernie Sanders. “President Obama is working with the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia and China to try to negotiate a peaceful means to prevent Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. These negotiations must be allowed to continue and, hopefully, will succeed. It is an outrage that my Republican colleagues are trying to sabotage that effort,” Sanders said.