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Delaware Congressional delegation reviewing Iran nuclear deal

Delaware Public Media

The three members Delaware's Congressional delegation each say they want to fully review the nuclear deal the U.S. and other world powers have struck with Iran before offering their support.

The state's senior Senator, Tom Carper (D-Delaware) says if the deal follows the framework previously outlined by the Obama Administration – he will be looking to see if it also included the necessary ability to verify strict Iranian compliance before backing it. 

Sen. Chris Coons (D-Delaware), who sits on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, says he’ll review the agreement closely.

 

 

“My principal goal is to make sure that this agreement freezes Iran's progress toward a nuclear weapon and gives us enough confidence that we can detect cheating by Iran, that we can block efforts at cheating by Iran, and that we can reimpose sanctions or take other means as necessary to make certain that they don't acquire a nuclear weapons capability," Coons said.

 

And Coons says he has some other criteria he needs to see as he reviews the deal.

 

“I'm concerned about provisions in the deal that may or may not provide for a full accounting of Iran's past illegal nuclear weapons activity, and I'm concerned about whether there are strong enough limits on future nuclear weapons research by Iran," he said. "Those are some of the key things I'll be looking for.”

 
 

Delaware’s lone congressman, John Carney (D-Delaware), says he will studying the deal with “skeptical and clear eyes” while asking whether the U.S. is better off with the deal than without it.

 

Congress has 60 days to review the deal before voting to back it or not.

Carper says he hopes to see a thoughtful and respectful debate where everyone has done their homework on the deal.  He scolded those who immediately denounced the deal without reviewing it – telling them to “cool their jets.”

 

Tom Byrne has been a fixture covering news in Delaware for three decades. He joined Delaware Public Media in 2010 as our first news director and has guided the news team ever since. When he's not covering the news, he can be found reading history or pursuing his love of all things athletic.
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