“We don’t think this action is necessary, we don’t think it will be enacted. If it were enacted, the president would veto it,” Carney said Thursday of the Iran sanctions bill sponsored by, among others, Democratic Sens. Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez.

Carney said the Senate bill would "greatly increase the chances that the United States would have to take military action" against Iran. He said it would also be bad for attempts at negotiating with Iran and defy the will of the nation and the Congress.

“Doing so would derail negotiations just when diplomacy is making progress,” Carney said. “It would potentially divide the international community and obviously would suggest bad faith on the part of the United States.”

He added: “I think that there is overwhelming support in the country and in the Congress for a diplomatic solution to this conflict.”

Twenty-six US senators introduced new Iran sanctions legislation earlier Thursday, despite an intense White House lobbying campaign, which has included the president himself and warnings that the alternative to diplomacy is a new war in the Middle East.

The Nuclear Weapon Free Iran Act was introduced by Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Robert Menendez, fellow Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer and Republican Senator Mark Kirk.

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