On Oct. 21, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader, approved the Iran Nuclear Deal. As reported by CNN, the deal was approved based on multiple conditions, but most notably that new sanctions cannot be imposed from any country on Iran. NBC News reported that the deal was officially put into place on Oct. 18 and was signed between the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China. The below statements are what each presidential candidate has to say on the deal.
- “The nuclear agreement announced by the Obama administration today is a dangerous, deeply flawed, and short sighted deal. Based on initial reports and analysis, it appears this agreement does not ‘cut off all of Iran’s pathways to a nuclear weapon’—in fact, over time, it paves Iran’s path to a bomb. Most of the key restrictions last for only 10 to 15 years. Even before the deal expires, it could allow Iran to develop an industrial-scale enrichment program and continue its R&D on advanced centrifuges and development of an ICBM.”—Jeb Bush in a statement released on his campaign website on July 14
- “Viewed on its own merits, the deal is an abject failure that will leave Iran as a nuclear threshold state in just 10 years. The deal seeks to quickly roll back layers of sanctions that took decades to assemble and to dismantle a much-need arms embargo on Tehran, thereby allowing the Iranians to proceed with efforts to amass sophisticated weaponry and develop intercontinental ballistic missiles capable of carrying conventional or nuclear warheads to our own shores .”—Ben Carson in an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post on Aug. 13
- “Iran joins the sad list of countries where America’s red lines have been crossed. The President is playing a dangerous game with our national security, and the deal as structured will lead to a nuclear Iran and, then, a nuclearized Middle East. The deal threatens Israel, it threatens the United States, and it turns 70 years of nuclear policy on its head.”—Chris Christie in a statement released on Twitter on July 14
- “Unfortunately, [President Obama] says it makes a nuclear arms race less likely. Our Arab allies have said just the opposite. So has Israel, so there is reason for suspicion here that’s not partisan. You have a whole set of Arab allies – Saudi Arabia and Israel, as we know, don’t agree on very much – but they do agree this is a bad idea.”—Carly Fiorina on “CBS This Morning” on July 14
- “If I’m president of the United States, we’re going to re-impose sanctions until they [Iran] change their behavior. And I’ll tell every French and German company if you do business with Iran, you’re going to lose the ability to do business in America. I would stop this deal. I would tell our allies we’re not going to go through with it on our part. You do whatever you would like. America’s not going to be part of empowering a radical Islamic regime with more money, more weapons and create a nuclear arms race.”—Lindsey Graham in an interview with NPR July 15
- “And at the end of the day, we need to recognize that what Iran is trying to do here, and this is clear to anyone who has inside knowledge into this or has followed it closely, Iran is trying to maintain all the infrastructure they need to be nuclear capable without agreeing to any irreversible concessions. And that seems to be what they have achieved, if in fact this moves forward.”—Marco Rubio, in an interview with NPR April 13
- “They [Iran] are going to be such a wealthy, such a powerful nation. They are going to have nuclear weapons. They are going to take over parts of the world that you wouldn’t believe. And I think it’s going to lead to nuclear holocaust…I would police that contract so tough that they don’t have a chance. As bad as the contract is, I will be so tough on that contract.”—Donald Trump, in an interview on “Meet the Press” on Aug. 16
- “This is a God-awful deal. This must be rejected. Congress must do its job and stand up for the American people, stand up for our safety and say no to this Iranian Deal.” –George Pataki at a Stop Iran Rally in New York City on July 22
- “This president’s foreign policy is the most feckless in American history. It is so naïve that he would trust the Iranians. By doing so, he will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven. This is the most idiotic thing, this Iran deal. It should be rejected by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress and by the American people. I read the whole deal. We gave away the whole store. It’s got to be stopped.”—Mike Huckabee, in an interview with Breitbart on July 25
- “And this is why I think it is a bad deal for the United States, for Israel and our allies. Several details that are troubling, so Iran keeps thousands of centrifuges, instead of giving up all of their enrichment capacity. We don’t truly get anytime/anywhere inspections…I worry, under this president’s deal, we could end up with a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. You could see Sunni countries now trying to buy this technology from Pakistan.”—Bobby Jindal in an interview with PBS on July 14
- “This #IranDeal is the single gravest national security threat facing America.”—Ted Cruz on Twitter on Aug. 4
- “Yeah I think it [the Iran Deal] holds a lot of promise. And I think the deal will be examined and read and will soon be released so that we can see the details of it. The key is that it has to be verifiable and enforceable…And I think this is how an effective foreign policy works, not merely using our military powers, but also our diplomatic. We have to also be about waging peace, and perhaps this deal is that path forward.”—Martin O’Malley in an interview with Iowa Public Radio on July 30
- “The United States has to negotiate with other countries. We have to negotiate with Iran. And the alternative of not reaching an agreement, you know what it is? It’s war. Do we really want another war, a war with Iran? An asymmetrical warfare that will take place all over this world, threaten American troops?”—Bernie Sanders on CBS’s “Face the Nation” on Aug. 9
- “We have a lot of other challenges posed by Iran. But personally as your future president, I’d rather be dealing with those challenges knowing that we have slowed down and put a lid on their [Iran’s} nuclear weapons program.”—Hillary Clinton at a campaign event in New Hampshire on Aug. 10
- “Iran with a nuclear weapon, in my opinion, is the end. I have no doubt that Iran will use a nuclear weapon in any way possible to destroy the United States, to destroy Europe, to destroy Israel or any other country that is in their way. They don’t care about dying.” –Rick Santorum in an interview with U.S. News on July 22
- “This is a very bad deal for a variety of reasons. Two quick things: one is they’re gonna get a nuclear weapon, and then we’re giving them a ton of cash to use to fund all these radical groups that want to undo all of our allies and who hate us. If this thing goes through then I think we should reach agreement with all the powers that, if we see any cheating at all, that these sanctions have to be slapped back on and they need to be expanded.”—John Kasich on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on July 26
- “The deal should be rejected because it fails the key criteria to protect the American national interest and our allies [and it] does not stop the Iranians from having a nuclear weapon in the long run.”—Jim Gilmore in an interview with Richmond Times-Dispatch on Aug. 19
- “I oppose the Iranian deal, and will vote against it. I don’t think that the president negotiated from a position of strength, but I don’t immediately discount negotiations…If there’s going to be a negotiation, you’re going to have to believe somehow that the Iranians are going to comply.”—Rand Paul in the GOP Debate on Aug. 6
