Washington (May 8, 2019) – Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, assessed the Trump administration’s short-sighted approach to Iran one year after President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as the Iran nuclear deal. Today, Iran announced it would stop complying with the deal’s limits on its stockpiles of low enriched uranium and heavy water. These steps are reversible, and Iran has indicated it will come back into compliance with the nuclear deal if its other parties — the European Union, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, and China — can adequately compensate for the Trump administration imposing oil and other sanctions in an effort to kill the agreement.

“Tehran’s alarming announcement that it will stop complying fully with the Iran deal is a direct result of President Trump’s war cabinet intentionally shepherding him toward confrontation with Iran and away from multilateral diplomacy,” said Senator Markey. “I urge Iran to instead continue complying with all of its commitments under the Iran nuclear deal.”

“The nuclear deal was negotiated for one purpose – to ensure Iran could not further its regional meddling, belligerence toward Israel, blatant human rights violations, and other malign activities backed by nuclear weapons. The deal was working, and it drastically rolled back Iran’s nuclear program, placed it under unprecedented monitoring and verification, and created space for America and its allies to address Iran’s other, troubling behaviors.”

“President Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran deal disregarded these benefits, isolated us from our allies, and trashed America’s reputation and credibility. Instead, Trump, exploited by John Bolton and other bellicose advisors, is foregoing diplomacy for clumsy attempts to confront and settle old scores with Iran. This makes America and the world less safe and risks entangles us in yet another unnecessary and potentially disastrous Middle East war. We should be working with our allies and partners to prevent conflict and diffuse tensions, not acting rashly and unilaterally to create them.”

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