“This is an opportunity to be bold with the Iranians,” McDonough said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

He said, “nobody is rebutting the intelligence; no one doubts the intelligence” that is the basis for President Barack Obama pinning the blame for an August 21 chemical weapons attack in Syria on President Bashar Assad’s regime which is fighting to suppress a rebellion that began in 2011.

McDonough said Obama wants Congress to be “a full partner” in military action against Assad’s regime. Obama faces one of the crucial weeks of his presidency with the Senate headed for a vote as early as Wednesday to end debate on a measure authorizing an attack on Syria; the measure’s supporters need 60 votes to move it ahead to final passage.