NIT – Only days after being elected to the U.S. Senate, Joni Ernst is calling out Iran to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons by the government of Iran.
Ernst issued the following statement today on the P5+1 nuclear negotiations with Iran:
“Iran must permanently eliminate their nuclear weapons-making capabilities in a verifiable manner. Any other outcome is unacceptable to our own national security interests, and those of our friends and allies in the region. Negotiators should not bargain away the leverage of international sanctions for anything less. This terror-sponsoring regime is at the negotiating table to find sanctions relief, but no deal is better than a bad deal, and I will work with members of both parties to ensure we take appropriate action to guarantee Iran remains nuclear weapons free.”
Representatives the US, Britain, France, Russia, China and Germany as well as Iran are working to finalize a comprehensive deal. An interim nuclear accord was approved last November that took effect on January 20 and expired six months later.
“Certain pretexts used by the US and the West can create obstacles in the way of these negotiations,” an Iranian official said this week.
Speaking today from Paris, Secretary of State John Kerry said “Now, we have the chance – and I underscore the word chance – to complete an agreement that would meet our strategic objectives, that would guarantee that Iran’s four pathways to fissile material for a nuclear weapon cannot be used, and thereby to be able to give the world the needed confidence that the Iranian program is exclusively and conclusively peaceful as Iran has said it is. And then at the same time, enable the Iranian people to be able to have the economic opportunities that they seek.”
