Senator Lankford Statement on President’s Decision to Withdraw From Iran Deal

WASHINGTON, DC – Senator James Lankford (R-OK) today made the following statement on the President’s decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also called the Iran Nuclear Deal, and impose additional sanctions on Iran.

“The Iran nuclear agreement, designed and agreed to by President Obama, had major flaws from the beginning. The agreement gave permanent tariff relief to Iran in exchange for temporary restrictions on its nuclear weapons program. Iran has spent years designing nuclear weapons, but they needed more time to develop new missiles and more money to pay for their technology. The nuclear agreement gave Iran billions of dollars and it ignored the continuing missile testing in Iran. That is unacceptable.

“I support additional sanctions on Iran, as they are the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. The Iranian regime is expanding into Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Yemen. The Middle East and the region cannot have peace with a threatening Iranian nuclear regime. I encourage the Trump Administration to immediately begin working with the international community, in close consultation with Congress, to find a solution that will ensure Iran never has access to nuclear weapons capabilities.”

On September 10, 2015, Lankford voted against the Iran deal, in the form of a resolution of disapproval. Before the vote, Lankford outlined his objections in an op-ed. After the deal went into effect, Lankford conducted oversight of the implementation of the deal. In April 2016, he introduced a Senate resolution to ensure that President Obama follows through on his commitment to reimpose sanctions if Iran violates the nuclear deal. In September 2016, Lankford and Senator David Perdue (R-GA) introduced the JCPOA Enforcement Transparency Act, which would increase oversight of the Joint Commission, a committee created under the Iran deal to monitor implementation.

Lankford serves on the Senate Intelligence Committee, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, and Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs.

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