Over the past 51 days, I have engaged in an exhaustive review of the substantial benefits and very real risks associated with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The lengthy negotiations, which produced this agreement were initiated by former President Bush and completed by President Obama.
After multiple classified briefings, and after thoughtful consideration of the testimony and public statements of former high-ranking military officers, nuclear weapons experts and the robust debate among my constituents, I have concluded that this arms control agreement, while not perfect, clearly advances the national security interests of the United States and our closest allies, including the State of Israel. It has earned my support.
This agreement requires Iran to destroy 98 percent of its enriched uranium stockpile; mothball two-thirds of its centrifuges (including the most advanced centrifuges); end all uranium enrichment at the formerly secret Fordow nuclear facility; and pour cement into the core of the Arak (plutonium) heavy water reactor, making it permanently inoperable.
The agreement also establishes unprecedented 24-hour monitoring and snap inspections at all known Iranian nuclear facilities.
Simply put, over the next 15 years, this diplomatic solution will push Iran further away from acquiring a nuclear weapon than any conceivable military option, short of an all-out invasion, which the American people do not support.
Having reached this decision, I have no illusions about the brutal regime in Tehran which oppresses its own people, supports terrorism, denies the Holocaust, and spews anti-American and anti-Semitic rhetoric on a daily basis. The United States must remain vigilant and be willing, by all means necessary, to oppose Iran and its proxy clients, Hezbollah and Hamas, and to interdict the flow of weapons to these terrorist organizations, if necessary.
This is not a peace treaty; rather, it is an arms control agreement with a dangerous adversary. That is not without precedent in American foreign policy.
During the Cold War, while thousands of Soviet nuclear missiles were pointed at the United States, and with the Kremlin arming and training North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces who killed more than 58,000 brave American soldiers, both Republican and Democratic administrations understood the strategic necessity to negotiate several arms control agreements with the Soviets to control and then reduce the stockpiles of nuclear weapons.
As is the case with Iran today, those agreements were not based on trust or friendship, but on our means to verify compliance. History shows that those agreements were adhered to by both sides.
While we closely monitor Iranian compliance with this new agreement, the United States must strengthen and enhance our security cooperation and support for the State of Israel, our indispensable friend and trusted ally. And we must also continue to safeguard our vital regional partners, including Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Egypt and our Gulf Allies. Their security is inexorably linked to ours.
U.S. Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-St. Louis) represents Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
