One year ago, America made a momentous decision concerning the best way to deal with Iran, a dangerous, authoritarian regime with a history of promoting terrorism. We made a choice between war and peace. We learned something from the colossal failure of the Bush-Cheney go-it-alone, war-of-choice in Iraq. We wisely chose the path of diplomacy. Now, one year after these very difficult negotiations with Iran, we should recognize that success has been achieved. And even though we have not limited every danger from Iran, we have limited the most significant danger, the development of a nuclear weapon. Whereas before, Iran could have developed a nuclear weapon within a few months, it now would take a year or more, if Iran made that horrible decision to produce a nuclear weapon. Before the agreement, Iran's nuclear program was cloaked in secrecy. Now we have inspectors and the opportunity for rigorous examination of their sites on a regular basis. Tomorrow, if Iran were to decide to produce a nuclear weapon, not only would it take four to six times longer than before, we would quickly be aware of it and would be able to take appropriate action. Iran has shipped over 8.5 tons of enriched uranium to Russia. It has disabled more than 12,000 centrifuges and poured concrete into the core of a reactor at Arak designed to produce plutonium. Now, it is the United States that is acquiring some of Iran's heavy water that might have gone to nuclear production.…
On the recordJuly 12, 2016
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