Florida Congressmen Warn on Iran Nuclear Deal

Florida commands the top two spots on the U.S. House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee and chairwoman U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., and ranking minority member U.S. Rep.Ted Deutch, D-Fla., offered cautious words about the nuclear deal with Iran announced over the weekend.

Im disappointed that the agreement reached with Iran leaves unfulfilled our ultimate objective: a complete dismantling of Irans nuclear program and related activities, Ros-Lehtinen said on Sunday. In offering to ease sanctions in return for a six-month halt in the nuclear program, the agreement accepted by the administration simply does not go far enough to ensure our national security interests and those of our allies, like the democratic Jewish state of Israel. Im particularly troubled by this agreements failure to force Tehran to completely stop uranium enrichment and dismantle its existing centrifuges, whose operation can be resumed quickly, allowing Iran to potentially reach nuclear capacity in a brief amount of time.

We simply cannot trust the very man who has bragged about advancing Irans nuclear program while deceiving the West in his former position of chief negotiator, added Ros-Lehtinen. In light of President Obamas claim that we have halted Irans nuclear program, wed do well to remember that the one really calling the shots in Iran is Supreme Leader Khamenei, and he has repeatedly made clear his intent for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. This deal falls short of our primary national security objectives, and it puts into unnecessary danger the security of our friends and allies.

Deutch sounded more optimistic but still urged caution in dealing with Iran.

"This partial deal is only the beginning, but we must be clear that the end result of this process is Iran verifiably and completely ending its nuclear weapons program and dangerous enrichment activities, Deutch said. Before any final deal can be reached, Iran must come clean about its entire nuclear program once and for all. This means addressing all outstanding claims by the IAEA of possible military aspects, dismantling the Arak reactor, halting centrifuge manufacturing, and granting inspectors full access to Parchin and all other sites. Iran must understand that all options remain until its nuclear program is no longer a threat to U.S. and international security."