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“Because I believe that Iran is less likely to get a nuclear weapon with this agreement than without it, I will support it,” Murphy said in his statement of support for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed upon by Iran and the P5+1.
In his statement, Murphy quoted Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin in saying, “You don’t make peace with friends, you make it with very unsavory enemies.”
This agreement is not about making peace with Iran but is about ensuring that Iran doesn’t become a nuclear-armed adversary, said Murphy, the ranking member of the U.S. Senate foreign relations subcommittee on the Near East, South Asia, Central Asia and Counterterrorism.
"America and our allies will still fight the Iranian regime tooth and nail on their support for terrorists, their constant threats to the U.S. and Israel, and their denial of political and human rights to their own people," he said. "This agreement, from the beginning, has been about stopping Iran’s path to a nuclear weapon without having to go to war again. Because I believe that Iran is less likely to get a nuclear weapon with this agreement than without it, I will support it.”
Murphy said the most important part of the deal is ensuring that Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.
"Because as dangerous as Iran is today, it becomes twice as threatening to the security of the United States, Israel, and the world if its regional provocations were to occur under the cover of a nuclear weapons arsenal," he said.
Murphy acknowledged Iran's "malevolent behavior:" funding and sponsoring terrorists; denying the existence of Israel; and its human rights record. He also said he would like the duration of the agreement to be longer and have fewer conditions.
“I would like for Congress’s prerogative to impose additional non-nuclear sanctions on Iran to be clearer," he said. "I believe our negotiating team achieved our primary objectives. Iran’s nuclear program is substantially curtailed such that they would need over a year to develop a nuclear weapon from the time that they make an internal decision to break out of the agreement. ... The inspections regime is unprecedented in scope and intrusiveness. The United States and Europe hold the power to reinstitute sanctions if Iran cheats."
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