President Barack Obama won a major foreign policy victory on Thursday, when Senate Democrats blocked a Republican resolution disapproving his historic nuclear agreement with Iran.

Under the U.S.-Iran nuclear deal, which Obama announced in July, the U.S. and four other major world powers agreed to lift Iran's economic sanctions. In turn, the Islamic Republic vowed to limit its nuclear program for the next 10 years.

Senate Republicans, however, tried to prevent the deal from going into effect next week by presenting a disapproval resolution. When taken up for a vote, the majority of Democrats banded together to kill the measure so that Obama would not have to veto it.

The GOP resolution was two votes shy of getting the 60 votes it need in order to proceed, reports Fox News. As a result, the controversial deal will be enacted without a major showdown between the White House and the Republican-controlled Congress.

"Today, the Senate took an historic step forward and voted to enable the United States to work with our international partners to enable the implementation of the comprehensive, long-term deal that will prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said in a statement Thursday about the vote. "This vote is a victory for diplomacy, for American national security, and for the safety and security of the world.

"Going forward, we will turn to the critical work of implementing and verifying this deal so that Iran cannot pursue a nuclear weapon," he added.

Four Senate Democrats joined with the 54 Republicans who voted to approve the resolution, bringing the procedural vote to 58-42.

Following the vote, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blasted Democrats for "protecting" the president from having to issue a veto.

"The president's proud of the deal. I don't know why he'd be reluctant to veto a resolution of disapproval that's put on his desk," McConnell said on the Senate floor, reports NPR. "I don't know what they're protecting him from. I think he'd have a veto ceremony and invite all you guys to join him."

McConnell also vowed to bring the resolution up for another vote next week before the deal automatically goes into effect.