President Barack Obama described a Senate procedural vote that blocked a resolution of disapproval of the Iran deal as a "victory for diplomacy," minutes after just 58 out of 100 senators voted to advance the resolution, falling two votes short of the 60 needed for a supermajority to successfully invoke cloture - a procedure that ceases debate and brings the resolution to a vote .
"Today, the Senate took an historic step forward and voted to enable the United States to work with our international partners to enable the implementation of the comprehensive, long-term deal that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said in a statement issued shortly after the vote.
Obama has campaigned in recent weeks to avoid the resolution's passage, which would have forced him to use his veto power to preserve the agreement reached between the P5+1 states and Iran.