WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee, released a statement on Tuesday after President Trump announced his decision to withdraw from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). The JCPOA is the international deal that has prevented Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. 

“This is terrible news. Pulling out of the Iran deal is like a soccer player deliberately kicking the ball into their own team’s goal. There is nothing but downside for the U.S., especially since Trump has zero plan for what comes next. Now, it’s more likely that we’ll face dual nuclear crises in Iran and North Korea, and it will make it even harder to convince Kim Jong Un to give up his nuclear weapons because we just showed that we can’t be trusted to live up to our end of a bargain,” said Murphy. “This decision will further isolate America from our European partners and the rest of the world, making it harder for us to work together on a host of other issues important to U.S. national security. Pulling out of the agreement just because it has Obama’s name on it is potentially catastrophic, and it makes Connecticut and our nation less safe.”

In October 2017, Murphy gave a speech on the dangers of walking away from the Iran Deal. 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.”

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