“It's a pretty good deal. I think a very vigorous verification regime has been put into place," Powell told NBC on Sunday.
"I say, we have a deal, let's see how they implement the deal. If they don't implement it, bail out. None of our options are gone," he added.
"Even if we were to kill the deal — which is not going to happen — it's going to take effect anyway, because all of these other countries that were in it with us are going to move forward," Powell said.
"They're all going to be moving forward — we're going to be sitting on the sidelines," the former official stated.
President Barack Obama tweeted a thank you to Powell on Sunday.
"Thank you, Colin, for putting your experience and expertise behind this important initiative for our country," Obama tweeted.
President Obama needs 41 votes in the Senate to filibuster procedural rule to prevent a resolution disapproving the accord. So far 38 Democrats have come out in support of the agreement.
If the resolution is filibustered, it would be a major victory for the White House, which wouldn’t have to use President Obama’s veto pen to protect the Iran deal.