President Trump’s announcement that the United States will exit the Iran nuclear deal has been praised by some lawmakers and lambasted by others.
Rep. Mark Meadows (R-NC) of the conservative House Freedom Caucus concurred with Trump’s decisions to remove the US from the deal and to levy sanctions against the Iranian regime.
“From its very inception, the Iran Deal was nothing short of a foreign policy debacle. President Trump is absolutely right to reinstate sanctions and withdraw from the agreement,” Meadows tweeted. “The United States can do better—and we will. This is a victory for a safer and more secure America.”
Meadows decisively won his primary in North Carolina’s 11thcongressional district on Tuesday.
Rep. Jim Renacci (R-OH), the victor in yesterday’s GOP Senate primary in Ohio, also tweeted his support for the president’s move:
“Glad to see @realDonaldTrumpkeeping yet another campaign promise to make our nation safe again by walking away from the disastrous nuclear deal with Iran. The deal threatens Israel’s existence & America’s security. Proud to have @realDonaldTrump's endorsement for #OhSen.”
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) released a statement praising the president’s action and describing the Iran deal as a “catastrophe.”
“I commend President Trump for exiting the Obama Iranian nuclear deal and for his commitment to confronting Iran's ‘Death to America' regime,” Cruz declared in the statement.
But while some affirmed the announcement, others denounced the decision.
House Minority leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) roundly condemned the move in her statement:
“The President’s decision to follow his misguided and uninformed campaign promise to destroy the successful Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action endangers global security and defies comprehension,” she declared.
Rep. Pelosi and others said that the U.S. withdrawal will tarnish U.S. credibility:
“This rash decision isolates America, not Iran. Our allies will hold up their end of the agreement, but our government will lose its international credibility and the power of our voice at the table. The President’s decision to abdicate American leadership during a critical moment in our effort to advance a denuclearization agreement with North Korea is particularly senseless, disturbing and dangerous,” she said in the statement.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton denounced the decision in a series of tweets and also spoke of a loss in US credibility:
“Pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal is a big mistake. It makes America less safe and less trusted. Iran is now more dangerous. What's plan B? Anyone who thinks bombing is the answer is woefully misinformed,” she wrote. “As Secretary of State, I helped negotiate the crippling international sanctions that brought Iran to the table. It would be much harder a second time, now that our credibility is shot.”
In her third tweet she linked to President Obama’s statement and said that “It will also be harder to deal with other threats like ballistic missiles and terrorism. Now we have no leverage and Iran is free to do what it wants.”
Dick Durbin (D-IL) branded the action as “a mistake of historic proportions,” asserting in a statement that “Breaking this deal increases the danger that Iran will restart its nuclear weapons program, which threatens our ally, Israel, and destabilizes the entire Middle East. It isolates the United States from the world at a time when we need our allies to come together to address nuclear threats elsewhere, particularly in Korea.”
But as Townhall reported on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the policy shift:
“The deal didn't push war further away. It actually brought it closer. The deal didn't reduce Iran's aggression, it dramatically increased it. We see this across the entire Middle East,"the prime minister declared.
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