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Local Residents Express Concerns About Iran Nuke Deal

GREAT NECK, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) -- The White House will soon try to convince skeptics in Congress to approve the historic Iranian nuclear deal.

The agreement calls for Iran to limit its nuclear activity. The country would also have to allow inspections. In exchange, economic sanctions will be lifted.

On Tuesday, CBS2's Hazel Sanchez got reaction from Iranian-Americans in our area.

After marathon talks in Vienna, Austria, finally ended in a deal to curb Iran's nuclear program, here in New York, Iranian-born Dr. Marc Benhuri said the world should be concerned about what Iran could do with the billions of dollars it will get back in sanctions relief.

Countries like Israel may be forced to defend themselves.

"Our president should have never gone against U.S. law. The United States has a law that United States government never, never negotiate with terrorists' state. Iran is a state the sponsors terrorist countries," Benhuri said.

"Israel will have to do what it determines is necessary to protect its citizens from a government, a regime that says 'We believe Israel needs to be destroyed,'" said Malcolm Hoenlein of the Council of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations.

Sanchez found a law student from Iran living in New York, who is hopeful the deal would help his family still living in Iran. He asked CBS2 not identify him because he feared a backlash for his opinion.

"I was happy after I saw the headline that they made a deal," the student said. "It's going to help the economy, which will influence the people, because the majority of people are suffering because of the poor economy."

Ruby Rubinov said the opinions have been mixed in his salon in Great Neck on Long Island, with its large Iranian community.

"It's not bad. It's extremely, extremely bad deal. People, they being naïve, cannot recognize the problem that it's going to cause to the world," Rubinov said.

With the small possibility of Congress blocking the deal, some people in Great Neck said it's difficult to be optimistic about what the future might hold for their family's back in the Middle East.

"You have to see what's going to happen," one woman said. "We're going to have to wait and see what's going to happen. I hope good thing happen that's my wish."

It's a wish that has no deadline.

Congress has 60 days to review the deal and challenge it, and in Tehran the deal needs the clear backing of Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, Sanchez reported.

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