Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ) argued the Iran deal “fails to appreciate Iran’s history of deception in its nuclear program” and “commits the international community, over time, to assisting Iran in developing an industrial-scale nuclear power program” before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday.
“I am concerned that the deal enshrines for Iran, and in fact commits the international community, over time, to assisting Iran in developing an industrial-scale nuclear power program complete with industrial-scale enrichment. And while I understand the program’s going to be subject to Iran’s NPT obligations, I think it fails to appreciate Iran’s history of deception in its nuclear program and its violations of the NPT. And it will in the long run, I think, make it harder to demonstrate that Iran’s program is not in fact being used for peaceful purpose[s] because Iran will have legitimate reasons to have advanced centrifuges and an enrichment program. We will then have to demonstrate, if that is in fact the case, that’s its intention is dual use, and not justified by its industrial nuclear power program. That’s a much more difficult burden.”
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