HARTFORD – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released the following statement on Friday after President Trump announced his intention to refuse to certify Iran’s compliance with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, endangering the agreement struck between Iran and major global powers to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon:

“Ripping up the Iran Deal would be a catastrophic self-inflicted wound for America, putting Iran on a course to get a nuclear weapon and pushing the United States even farther away from our allies. Keeping Connecticut families safe and protecting our national security is my number one priority. After studying the issue, I came out in support of the Iran Deal because I concluded it was the best way to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon that would threaten the United States and our allies, especially Israel.

“Now it's up to Congress to signal to the world that we are not backing out of the deal. Using the President’s decertification as an excuse to exit the agreement would shred America’s credibility at the exact moment we are trying to defuse a nuclear crisis with North Korea. We will never convince Kim Jong Un to voluntarily give up his nuclear weapons if we have a track record of going back on agreements that were painstakingly negotiated with all the major world powers. If the Iran agreement falls, war will become much more likely – both in the Middle East and on the Korean peninsula – and American lives will be put at risk. We cannot allow that to happen.”

Earlier this month, Murphy delivered remarks on the dangers of walking away from the agreement at the Center for American Progress.  In August 2015, Murphy announced his support for the JCPOA, concluding that, “Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon. This imperative, long a foundation of American policy in the Middle East, has been my guidepost as I have reviewed the ongoing nuclear negotiations – and now the nuclear agreement – with Iran. Because as dangerous as Iran is today, it becomes twice as threatening to the security of the United States, Israel, and the world if its regional provocations were to occur under the cover of a nuclear weapons arsenal…Because I believe that Iran is less likely to get a nuclear weapon with this agreement than without it, I will support it.”