Withdrawal from Iran deal draws ire from Vermont delegation

Posted Tuesday, May 8, 2018 7:03 pm

WASHINGTON — Vermont's delegation sharply criticized President Donald Trump's decision Tuesday to withdraw from an agreement brokered by the Obama administration to halt Iran's nuclear program.



The president has been a consistent critic of the deal for years, and it was a frequent punching bag at his campaign rallies during the 2016 campaign. However, since taking office, he has so far upheld the deal.



That changed Tuesday. In a televised address, Trump formalized his decision to withdraw, saying that the deal is ineffective.



"If I allowed this deal to stand, there would soon be a nuclear arms race in the Middle East," the president said.



He bashed the agreement, a signature foreign policy achievement of the Obama administration, as failing to meet its objectives.



"It didn't bring calm, it didn't bring peace, and it never will," he said.



Trump announced Tuesday that his administration would begin instituting "the highest level" of economic sanctions, suggesting that any other country that does business with Iran would be subject to sanctions as well.



"America will not be held hostage to nuclear blackmail," Trump said.



All three members of Vermont's delegation were sharply critical of Trump's decision.



Administration officials contacted senior members of Congress in the hours before the president's announcement to alert them to the decision.



One official attempted to contact Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., early Tuesday afternoon.



As Leahy left the room where Senate Democrats caucus every week, he commented he would return the phone call later in the afternoon, after a committee hearing — though by that time news reports suggested Trump had made up his mind.



Leahy, speaking softly, said he believes the country should keep its word, "not break it a year or two later."



In a statement, Leahy later called Trump's decision a "monumental mistake" and charged the president is "fulfilling a dangerous campaign promise that puts politics over the security of the American people and our closest allies."



Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., responded to the president's announcement in a polished seven-minute video address broadcast live on his Facebook page.



Standing at a podium with an image of the Capitol dome visible through a curtain behind him, Sanders argued withdrawing from the agreement will be damaging to relations in the Middle East, and will undermine future diplomatic endeavors, such as the Trump administration's attempt to negotiate with North Korea.



"Why would any country in the world sign such an agreement with the United States and make the necessary concessions if they thought that a reckless president might simply discard that agreement a few years later?" Sanders said.



The war in Iraq, Sanders said, was the result of years of policy decisions over the years before the 2003 invasion, and, he asserted, the situation with Iran is in part a result of that conflict.



"It is folly to imagine that having unleashed these problems through the misuse of military force that we can solve them in the same way," he said.



Rep. Peter Welch, D-Vt., who as a Democratic whip helped gather support for the measure to pass in the House, praised the "carefully-negotiated" deal as imposing stringent requirements on Iran.



"By carelessly casting it aside, President Trump has manufactured an international crisis that risks an armed conflict with a nuclear Iran," Welch said. "In doing so, he thumbed his nose at the grave warnings of our allies and ignored assurances by senior military officials and independent inspectors that Iran is, in fact, in compliance with the terms of the agreement."



Welch also lamented what he said is Trump's lack of vision or strategy in the Middle East and Iran.



Opinions about the president's decision on Capitol Hill were split.



Many Republicans in Congress heralded his decision, including Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., who represents the New York district that borders most of Vermont.



The deal, she said in a statement, was a "deeply flawed agreement that provided the world's largest state sponsor of terror with billions of dollars while failing to stop their path to nuclear weapons capability, and failing to address Iran's ballistic missile program."



Many said they see this as an opportunity to move forward and negotiate a better agreement to halt Iran's nuclear program.



However, some members were more reserved. Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz, said on CNN he was not sure it was a "wise move" to withdraw.



Trump's decision drew condemnation from America's allies in the deal. Leaders of the Germany, France and the United Kingdom in recent weeks led a campaign to lobby Trump to stay in the deal.



French President Emmanuel Macron had touted the agreement when he addressed a joint session of Congress in April — a line that won applause from Democrats but had a chillier reception across the aisle.





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