Chris Coons: “That would be fine. I think there is a strong point being made by my colleague from New Hampshire that I will just…”

“That would be fine. I think there is a strong point being made by my colleague from New Hampshire that I will just briefly expound upon and then invite my colleague from New Jersey to join in this conversation. Earlier this month, I traveled with a number of my Senate colleagues to the headquarters of the International Atomic Energy Agency and heard from them directly the same sorts of concerns my colleague from New Hampshire just laid down. They are struggling with how to ensure that they have the resources, the staffing, and the equipment to take on this remarkably broadened scope of inspections. One of the underappreciated, positive benefits of the JCPOA is that the IAEA now has unprecedented 24/7 access not just to Iran's nuclear enrichment sites but to its centrifuge production workshops, its uranium mines mills, the entire so-called fuel cycle for the production of nuclear material within Iran. So I believe, as does my colleague from New Hampshire, that the IAEA needs and deserves greater funding, more reliable funding, more robust and long-term funding. The oversight and monitoring mechanisms of the JCPOA, if strictly enforced, can serve as a viable deterrent to Iran's cheating and, in a worst-case scenario, provide the international community with early warning and enough time to respond if Iran decides to break out and dash to a nuclear weapons capability.…”