Press and pundits continue to tip and sway over the news that a preliminary deal has at last emerged from the Iran nuclear talks. But is it a done deal? Republican lawmakers are not buying it. “Allowing Iran to retain thousands of centrifuges, keeping facilities such as Fordow open and not limiting Iran’s ballistic missile program indicate to me that this deal is a colossal mistake,” says Florida Sen. Marco Rubio. “This attempt to spin diplomatic failure as a success is just the latest example of this administration’s farcical approach to Iran.”
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Mike McCaul was just as blunt: “The Obama administration’s efforts to get a deal at any cost will have a greater cost than the world can bear.”
Iranian leaders will now find a nuclear weapon dangerously within reach. Even during these recent negotiations, Iranians have continued to chant ’Death to America.’ When people show you who they are, it’s important to believe them the first time. If this deal moves forward, the consequences for the U.S. and our allies in the region will be dire.
“We must remain clear-eyed regarding Iran’s continued resistance to concessions, long history of covert nuclear weapons-related activities, support of terrorism, and its current role in destabilizing the region,” says Sen. Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
“If a final agreement is reached, the American people, through their elected representatives, must have the opportunity to weigh in to ensure the deal truly can eliminate the threat of Iran’s nuclear program and hold the regime accountable. Rather than bypass Congress and head straight to the U.N. Security Council as planned, the administration first should seek the input of the American people,&’ Mr. Corker suggests.
“The key question is: Can Iran be trusted?” adds Ronald Lauder, president of the World Jewish Congress. “I fear a scenario in which, in 10 years, we will have resuscitated the Iranian economy without curbing Iran’s nuclear arms development.