Political Quotes

“nearly 20 years ago, I joined with then- Republican Senator Gordon Smith of Oregon to introduce the Iran Counter-Proliferation Act. Key provisions of that bill included significant tightening of petroleum-related sanctions that eventually became law and helped push Iran to the negotiating table over its genuinely dangerous nuclear program. Those tough sanctions and unified allied pressure, including from Russia and China, led to an agreement that contained Iran's nuclear program with aggressive international inspections. I remember hosting the International Atomic Energy Agency Director General many times in the ensuing years where he provided me with updates on the inspections. While sometimes contentious, they were, in fact, working. During those years, I also met directly with Iranian officials to discuss this agreement, to push them to end their support for regional proxies, and to help return missing and detained Americans in Iran. So I am not naive about the Iranian regime's threat to the region and even its own people. And while the nuclear agreement wasn't perfect then, it was working. It allowed us to confront Iran about its otherwise troubling behavior without the threat of an Iranian nuclear weapon. We made progress. Yet, during his first term, President Donald Trump walked away from this agreement and replaced it with nothing--nothing but bluster and wishful thinking.”