WASHINGTON — U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), top Democrat on the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Near East, South Asia, Central Asia, and Counterterrorism, on Tuesday made the following statement after an all Senators briefing by U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Acting U.S. Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Joe Dunford on the threat posed by Iran: 

“It's clear to me after this briefing that the administration's approach to Iran is not working. The economic and diplomatic pressure campaign has pushed Iran further away from the negotiating table, and the military deterrent campaign that began earlier this month hasn't convinced Iran to end their recent provocative actions. The administration’s plan is all tactics and no strategy – there is no realistic path to get us out of this blind campaign of escalation, and that should worry the hell out of every American. President Trump has no one else to blame for this untenable position that we are in today. He is the one who withdrew from the Iran Deal, designated the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps a Foreign Terrorist Organization, and continues to goad Iran by relaying a different message every hour. The president – not John Bolton – has put us on the precipice of serious conflict, and only he will shoulder the blame if events spiral out of control,” said Murphy. 

Earlier this month, Murphy published a joint USA Today op-ed with U.S. Representative Jim Himes (CT-4) raising concerns about the President’s march to war with Iran. Murphy also blasted the administration following Iran’s recent moves to restart their nuclear program, and criticized the administration for its general Iran policy that continues to goad Tehran into restarting their nuclear weapons program and undo years of diplomatic work.  

###