AKIPRESS.COM - U.S. president Barack Obama has launched an intense lobbying campaign to convince Congress to approve a nuclear deal with Iran, warning that rejecting it could lead to another war in the Middle East, Radio Australia reports.

Obama spoke for an hour defending the Iran agreement on Wednesday, which faces stiff opposition from Republicans as well as members of his own Democratic party.

The agreement would give Iran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear program which Washington long believed was cover for building a bomb.

The deal will be voted on next month by Congress, with opposing voices saying it will not prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon.

Obama says it will, and has called September's vote the most consequential debate in Congress since it voted to invade Iraq.

He said many of those who supported the Iraq war were making the same arguments against the Iran deal, angering some Republicans who said the president was making partisan attacks.

"Many of the same people who argued for the war in Iraq are now making the case against the Iran nuclear deal," he said, urging lawmakers to instead choose an American tradition of strong diplomacy.

"Congressional rejection of this deal leaves any US administration that is absolutely committed to preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon with one option — another war in the Middle East. If Congress kills this deal, we will lose more than just constraints on Iran's nuclear program or the sanctions we have painstakingly built," he warned.

The invocation of the Iraq war touched a nerve with some in Congress, particularly those whose vote for the Iraq war in 2002 helped launch the bloody eight-year conflict and marked their record.

Senators John McCain and Republican presidential candidate Lindsey Graham, in a joint statement, accused Obama of relying on "endless straw men."

They said the alternative to a bad deal was a better deal that not only subjected Iran to inspections and limited enrichment, but which also completely dismantled the nuclear program.