Bipartisan Group of Ex-Senators to Run Ads Against Iran Deal

A bipartisan group of former senators and veterans is unveiling a multimillion advertising campaign aimed at derailing President Obama’s nuclear agreement with Iran.

American Security Initiative, which was founded by former Senators Norm Coleman of Minnesota, Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, Evan Bayh of Indiana and Saxby Chambliss of Georgia, is spending $6.2 million to blanket the airwaves in nine states. The group did not disclose who is financing the campaign.

The investment is being made in conjunction with a group called Veterans Against the Deal, which has already been airing ads, and the campaign will run through early September. Mr. Coleman and Mr. Chambliss are Republicans; Mr. Lieberman and Mr. Bayh are Democrats.

In an interview, Michael Pregent, executive director of Veterans Against the Deal, said his group’s efforts would get a boost from the new partnership. He said his effort began in response to criticisms from proponents of the deal who have called some who are opposed to it “warmongers.”

The ads feature Robert Bartlett, a retired staff sergeant who was injured by an Iranian bomb while serving in Iraq in 2005.

“Every politician who is involved in this will be held accountable,” said Mr. Bartlett, whose face bears scars from his injuries. “They will have blood on their hands.”

Airing in Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, North Dakota, Virginia and West Virginia, the ads are the latest effort by opponents of President Obama’s Iran policy to pressure lawmakers into voting against the deal.

Last month the pro-Israel group Aipac formed a tax-exempt lobbying group to oppose the Iran agreement. The push included an advertising campaign in 20 states as part of a $20 million effort.

A spokesman for the American Security Initiative said that the group remained open to the possibility of increasing its investment and expanding its campaign this month.

Mr. Lieberman said in an interview that the ads by Veterans Against the Deal provided a perfect distillation of the question he and others have about the deal: Can an accord be struck with a country that harbors ill will toward your own?

The only way to have such a deal, Mr. Lieberman said, is for it to be “airtight, which this deal is not.”