WASHINGTON, DC – Today, after the White House announced it would pull out of the Iran nuclear agreement formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI), the Ranking Member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, issued the following statement:

“Despite the fact that the JCPOA is working, President Trump has been intent on blowing it up.  By unilaterally abandoning this accord, he is undermining U.S. diplomacy and leadership and making us less safe.

“President Trump is ignoring the advice of his top generals and military leaders and putting electoral interests above America’s security interests.

“President Trump can malign the JCPOA all he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that it has moved Iran further away from the capacity to produce a nuclear weapon.  And the action he took today will have a destabilizing impact in the region and could hinder our ability to work with our allies.

“It is irresponsible for President Trump to abandon this international agreement and needlessly isolate the United States in the absence of an Iranian violation and without presenting a credible alternative to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. 

“The Iran nuclear agreement imposed strict limits on uranium enrichment activities and provided for the most intrusive monitoring regime in the world to ensure Iran is living up to its commitments.  The deal was appropriately built upon the concept of “distrust and verify.”  By tearing up the deal now with nothing to replace it, I fear that we will only be left with “distrust” and few options short of military action to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

“We must continue to put international pressure on Iran over its abuse of human rights, ballistic missile development efforts, and other destabilizing activities in the region.  Unfortunately, President Trump has just made all of these objectives more difficult to achieve.”