“This showed — the fact that they were dishonest, which is no great surprise — how important the agreement is to making sure that they don’t get a nuclear weapon,” Nadler (D-N.Y.) told John Catsimatidis on “The Cats Roundtable” on New York’s AM-970.

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As part of the agreement to curb Iran’s nuclear program, the International Atomic Energy Agency released a report in December on Iran’s past nuclear activities.

The report found Iran, contrary to its public assertions, tried to build a nuclear weapon. It never got past the initial stages, and there is no evidence of attempts beyond 2009, according to the report.

Critics of the Iran deal said the report showed Tehran cannot be trusted to carry out its end of the agreement.

But Nadler said the nuclear agreement has already shown signs of progress. Iran recently shipped 25,000 pounds of low-enriched uranium out of the country.

“This tripled the time it would take them to get a nuclear weapon,” he said. “They did this as part of the agreement, and thus far that’s a great accomplishment for the agreement.”

Still, Nadler said, the United States needs to take other actions to curtail Iran’s support for terrorists and the country’s human rights violations.

He encouraged President Obama to detail “what we’re going about what sanctions and other things, what steps we’re going to take deal with their non-nuclear, terrorism and other activities, including arming of Hezbollah.”

The administration is reportedly considering a new round of sanctions against Iran following a missile test in October, though there’s no timeline for enacting the sanctions.

Nadler also hailed two other legislative achievements from 2015: the long-term highway bill and the James Zadroga 9/11 Health and Compensation Reauthorization Act, which provides health benefits to 9/11 first responders.

“I just hope Congress will be able to act on a bipartisan basis on some things,” Nadler said of his hopes for 2016.

“I hope that for the new year, we’ll be able to put things in perspective, that we’ll act in accordance with our traditions as a good and compassionate people.”