Obama moving away from Israel, toward Iran, says key Republican.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) is accusing the Obama administration of moving away from Israel in favor of stronger relations with Iran.

He pointed to a range of issues, from the administration’s air strikes in Iraq to support Iraqi forces fighting the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, to the tense relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government and the nuclear talks with Iran.

Corker said he had concluded the administration wanted to get the United States out of the Middle East. “As you see what the White House is doing — they're obviously moving away from Israel towards a relationship with Iran,” Corker said during an interview on CNN's "Wolf."

“It's very apparent to me that what they're trying to achieve is a balance of power between the Shia sides and the more Sunni-oriented sides, and a way for them to extract themselves out of the Middle East,” Corker said.

The comments come days before a March 31 deadline faced by the U.S., Iran and other partners to reach a nuclear deal that could lift sanctions on Iran in exchange for limits on that country’s nuclear program.

Corker is sponsoring legislation to allow Congress to review any deal the administration secures with Iran. The Tennessee Republican said he didn’t mean to imply the U.S. was completely shifting from the relationship with Israel, but he said he believed the administration’s policies would result in giving more influence in the Middle East to Iran.

“I'm not saying totally turning its back, but it's moving more towards an Iranian-dominated relationship to create a balance of power,” Corker said, referring to the Obama administration, when pressed to clarify his remarks on CNN. “While in a textbook that might be interesting, what you're not seeing from Iran's standpoint is a change in behavior. Just the opposite,” Corker said. 

During the interview, he predicted his legislation, which was backed Thursday by Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), would win approval. “I do think we are going to pass a piece of legislation," Corker said. “We know that if we make a bad deal, and they actually get to a place where they're one screwdriver turn away from having a nuclear weapon, it creates proliferation, possibly, in the region,” Corker said. By Jesse Byrnes, The Hill, March 27, 2015, 03:15 pm.