Ben Cardin

I urge Congress to make the right choice, and to support this deal.

At its core, that choice is whether or not this agreement merits Congress voting to lift those sanctions.

I worry that Iran will not agree with our definition of phony and that through this agreement the administration could inadvertently be hampering its own ability to combat Iranian terrorism.

It is important to note that the sanctions this Congress put in place are responsible for bringing Iran to the negotiating table.

I see no reason why simply extending existing authority, which could be waived, would be in violation of the agreement.

Congress did act, and we did strengthen the Iran Sanctions Act.

We will use the international standards, but we will not use an Iranian standard.

What happens if Congress rejects the agreement? And what is the likely response of our European allies?

I think a strong resounding message of disapproval of this deal will provide the kind of political leverage to the next President and to the next Congress to do a number of things.

Let me say that I agree with you. I do not disagree with what you are saying.

I want the United States to be in the strongest possible position and keep Iran under the spotlight of international attention.

If the United States is in a position following a congressional vote that our government could not execute the agreement, fulfill the responsibilities that we have undertaken, I think the eventual winner here will be Iran.

We are going to prevent Iran from becoming a nuclear weapons state. We are prepared to use our military option. But our preference is to use diplomacy.

Iran is not going to return to a negotiating table.

We know that some of the frozen assets are likely to be released to Iran, so they will get some sanction relief.

I think it is clear though that the sanctions regime would not be as effective as it is today.

I found the hearing to be very informative and helpful and I learned a lot at the hearing.

I hope we would all want to have this process be one that gives the Members of the U.S. Senate and the American people the information we need to make a determination.

I think we are all proud of the role that the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has been playing on this very important moment in the history of our country.

It has worked to America's advantage, and it has given us a strong position to go internationally to get sanctions imposed.

Congress has been the strongest on sanction-type legislation, whether it relates to the nuclear activities of Iran or whether it relates to their terrorism or their missile program.

The documents in question are traditional between the country and the IAEA and are kept confidential between the country, in this case Iran, and IAEA.

I understand they still have obligations under their nonproliferation treaty. They still have obligations with the additional proposals under the NPT.

The Iran Sanctions Act expires at the end of 2016. Congress may well want to extend that law so that that power is available immediately if Iran were to violate the agreement.

We also have made clear we reserve the right to put additional sanctions in place to address concerns about terrorism, human rights, and destabilization.