Senators Corker and Menendez provide reaction to Iran deal on Alhurra TV
Sen. Corker stated that he was still reviewing the agreement, but was starting “in a very skeptical place.” He questioned how the P5+1 and the European Union went from a goal of dismantling Iran’s nuclear program to coming to an agreement that would be “an industrialization of their nuclear program.” He stated that the agreement was a “far cry from where we began.” Sen. Corker said he felt the U.S. had substantial leverage going into the negotiations, but ended up with a deal that “we have to be defensive about.”
Sen. Corker also expressed his concern that the agreement will lead to a nuclear arms race. “That’s the way the world works…one person steps up with having something that is better than the other and the other countries want to reach an equilibrium.”
In a separate interview, Sen. Menendez expressed his interest in learning more about the details of the agreement. “It is incredibly important to see how the mechanisms are going to work, as to whether or not you have the guarantees that you need.” He went on to say that “the agreement ultimately recognized Iran as a threshold nuclear state.”