Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump rallied opponents of the Iran nuclear deal at the Capitol on Wednesday, slamming US President Barack Obama’s diplomatic agreement as an embarrassment to the country.
“We are going to get nothing,” he said of the nuclear deal. “They rip us off, they take our money, they make us look like fools.”
Trump, who has become the front-runner in the GOP race for the White House, said the United States bungled the negotiations over the Iran pact, which will lift sanctions on Iran’s economy in exchange for limits on its nuclear program.
“Never, ever in my lifetime have I seen a transaction negotiated so incompetently,” he said.
Trump wasn’t the only presidential contender on hand for the rally. He was preceded onstage by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a rival for the 2016 nomination who has at times defended Trump from criticism.
Cruz told the crowd that the nuclear pact will increase the risk of terrorism around the globe.
“We are now talking about giving Ayatollah Khamenei $100 billion to carry out his murderous plans,” Cruz said of Iran’s supreme leader.
 “If this deal goes through, we know with absolute certainty that people will die,” Cruz said of Iran deal.
The energetic rally on the west lawn of the Capitol, which was attended by Glenn Beck, Sarah Palin and several Republicans in Congress, comes amid a growing fight in the House over the next steps in the fight against Obama’s nuclear pact.
Conservatives in the House are demanding that the Obama administration send the text of side deals between Iran and international nuclear inspectors to Congress. Without the information, the conservatives argue, the clock for congressional consideration of the deal hasn’t begun.
House GOP leaders had planned to hold a procedural vote Wednesday to open debate on the Iran resolution, but that vote has now been pushed back.
Cruz echoed the call for delaying the Iran votes on Wednesday, arguing that Republican leaders are the only thing standing in the way of Obama’s “catastrophic deal.”
“Mitch McConnell and John Boehner can stop this deal if they simply enforce federal law,” Cruz said, referring to the Senate leader and Speaker.
“If Republican leadership decides that a show vote is more important than stopping this deal, then the single most important issue in 2016 is stopping Iran from acquiring Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. This Iranian deal is catastrophic.”