In a series of tweets, the Senate Foreign Policy Committee member wrote that he wanted a ‘longer and stronger’ agreement with Iran, but that the path to such an agreement was through the Iran nuclear deal (formally called the JCPOA).
In 2018, Trump ceased US participation to the deal and resumed sanctions on Iran in total disregard of the United Nations Security Council Resolution 2231, violating the JCPOA which was originally signed in 2015 to limit Iran’s nuclear program in return of lifting sanctions on the country.
Murphey said that the most important thing for the US was to make sure Iran didn’t get a nuclear weapon, and other demands on Iran’s regional influence and missile program were the next priorities.
“We had 4 years to try the approach of the JCPOA opponents. Trump leveled crippling sanctions on Iran to get them to negotiate on everything. It was a disaster. Iran refused to talk, they restarted their nuclear program, and began firing at U.S. troops,” Murphey added.
He underlined that the alliance former US President Barack Obama had built consisting of US, Europe, Russia and China collapsed by Trump’s policy.
“It is foolhardy to believe that Iran is now willing to sit down and negotiate a comprehensive agreement. And even if they were, they would want concessions from US, like a change to our defense relationship with Saudi Arabia/UAE,” the Connecticut Senator added.
He then suggested that the best path to getting Iran to the table on non-nuclear issues is to reenter the JCPOA and re-cement the P5+1 alliance structure, in a "compliance for compliance" framework.
But, he offered that Iran gets back into accord with the JCPOA and the US lifts the sanctions, while Iran is insisting that the US was the party to violate the deal by resuming sanctions against Iran.
Tehran argues the US must rejoin the deal and lift the sanctions first, and then Iran will reverse the remedial measures after Iran observes effects of lifting the sanctions.
Murphey said that the agreement was good for the world and “every day that the U.S. and Iran remain outside the deal, the world is less safe and diplomacy is devalued.”
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