Carper Statement on Recertification of Iranian Compliance with Nuclear Deal

WASHINGTON – Today, U.S. Senator Tom Carper (D-Del.) released the following statement to highlight Iran’s compliance with the Iran nuclear deal and call for the release of American prisoners held in Iran.

“The nuclear deal will keep Iran at least a year away from developing a bomb for the next 14 years, and maybe longer. As the Trump administration certified for the second time, this international agreement has successfully frozen Iran’s nuclear program. What’s more, it’s far better than the likely alternative: armed conflict with Iran. Since its implementation, the United States and other countries who are party to the deal – known as the “P5+1” — have extensively monitored, inspected and repeatedly certified that Iran is in compliance with the deal. These inspections are intrusive, and they are rightly based on mistrust.

“Despite the successes of the nuclear deal in compelling Iran to freeze its nuclear program, Iran still carries out dangerous and destabilizing activities in the region. That’s why last month, I joined 97 of my colleagues in supporting a bill that imposes additional, strong non-nuclear related sanctions on both Iran and Russia, including sanctions against Iran for its support for terrorism, continued testing of ballistic missiles and troubling human rights record, including unfairly detaining American citizens. I was especially concerned to learn this week that an American citizen, Xiyue Wang, was sentenced to ten years in prison on shaky charges that he was somehow engaged in espionage activity. Unfortunately, Mr. Wang is not the only American citizen held unjustly in Iran, and I strongly urge Iran to release all of these Americans.

“It’s clear that Iran still must change much of its behavior, but this week’s certification that Iran is upholding its end of the nuclear deal demonstrates that limited engagement with Iran can advance significant U.S. national security goals, rather than undermining them. I strongly urge the Trump Administration to continue to uphold our end of this carefully negotiated deal.”

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