Rep. Johnson announces support for Iran deal

ATLANTA, GA – Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04), a member of the Armed Services Committee, today released a statement regarding the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) reached between the P5+1 nations and Iran:

“The world agrees that a nuclear-armed Iran is unacceptable, and that actions must be taken to ensure that Iran can never develop a nuclear bomb. What is the preferred course of action to achieve that objective?

“The reality is that Iran is a nuclear threshold state with state-of-the-art centrifuge capacity and enough highly enriched uranium to produce a nuclear bomb within two months. Should the United States unilaterally bomb Iran to destroy its present capacity to build a nuclear bomb? Or should America implement the multilaterally negotiated agreement with Iran that requires it to give up its centrifuge capacity and most importantly, its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, leaving it without the means to make a nuclear bomb? Which is the more favorable scenario?

“The answer to this question is obvious. Give peace a chance. That is why I wholeheartedly support the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, which is the only peaceful means of ensuring Iran’s exclusion from the ranks of nations that possess the nuclear bomb.

“Implementing the JCPOA is a much safer and permanently effective alternative to bombing Iran to prevent it from building a nuclear bomb. Both proponents and opponents of the JCPOA agree: the only alternative to approving the JCPOA is a military strike against Iran. A military strike would have huge financial costs to American taxpayers, it could lead to all-out war and the loss of countless lives, including those of many Americans, and a military strike would fail to stop Iran's determination to build a nuclear bomb. To the contrary, a military strike could very well incentivize and incite Iran to continue its nuclear bomb ambitions.

“Now opponents can quibble with the details of the JPCOA – pretending that because it is not perfect America can unilaterally back away from the deal, leave our allies in the lurch and go back to the bargaining table and negotiate a better deal. But the opponents fail to explain exactly how the deal could be any better than the one arrived at through painstaking negotiations over the past two years. Opponents would have Americans believe that the small nation of Iran could outsmart the six most powerful nations in the world. Only those who oppose this deal simply because it was led by President Obama would fall for that notion.

“The six most powerful nations in the world worked together to negotiate the best deal possible, and Iran has agreed to give up its capacity to build a nuclear bomb. What more is there to achieve? Let's stop playing politics with peace, and let's give diplomacy a chance to work.”

###