U.S. Senator Tim Kaine, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committees, released the following statement today on President Trump’s decision to break the U.S. commitment to the Iran nuclear agreement, despite Iran’s compliance with the deal.
“President Trump showed us again today that when he says ‘America First,’ he actually means ‘America alone.’ By violating the Iran deal, the President is creating a new global nuclear crisis while we’re trying to address another one with North Korea. His decision to break from the deal makes our country less safe by damaging our diplomatic credibility, weakening our alliances, and reopening the door for Iran to start enriching uranium. The Iran deal states that ‘under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.’ Why would the President blow up this deal and free Iran of that obligation? President Trump has set us on a dangerous road where war becomes more likely, especially as his advisers beat the drums for regime change, which should never be a goal of U.S policy.”
Kaine has been a leading voice on Iran, including co-authoring the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, which gave Congress the right to review the Iran deal before Congressional sanctions could be lifted. He has consistently supported efforts to push back on Iran’s destabilizing behavior, including supporting the Countering U.S. Adversaries Through Sanctions Act of 2017, which strengthened sanctions on Iran for its human rights abuses, ballistic missile testing, and support for terrorism, including Hezbollah, and voting in 2016 to extend the Iran Sanctions Act.
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