Delaware’s entire congressional delegation now backs the U.S. nuclear deal with Iran.
Calling it a “close call,” Congressman John Carney (D-Delaware) announced Wednesday that he is joining Senators Tom Carper (D-Delaware) and Chris Coons (D-Delaware) in supporting the agreement.
In a statement, Carney said he supports it because “I have concluded that this deal is better than no deal at all. The hard truth is, I believe those are our only two choices at this juncture."
Carney says he believes that the deal does severely curtail Iran’s nuclear program.
"It rolls back its level of uranium enrichment, itremoves the vast majority of the Iranian stockpile of uranium, and it cripples the plutonium reactor at Arak. These reductions have been praised by nuclear scientists, including Secretary Moniz, and characterized as “remarkable changes” by former Secretary of State General Colin Powell," said Carney in his statement.
Carney adds that while he is "under no illusions... that we can count on Iran to adhere to this deal in good faith," he feels the U.S. will be better positioned to respond.
"The U.S. can and will exercise our prerogative under the deal to “snap back” the sanctions regime. Importantly, we don’t need permission from China, Russia, or any other country to do so," said Carney's statement. "Should that response prove ineffective, the simple reality is that we may still be compelled to use military force against Iran’s nuclear facilities. If using military force does become necessary, though, we will be taking that step armed with intelligence from inspectors on the ground made possible under the deal. And we will be more likely to have the world community on our side having tried diplomacy first through this agreement."
And like Carper and Coons, Carney says seeking to negotiate a better agreement is not plausible since other nations that have signed on to this deal are not prepared to keep sanctions in place.
President Obama appears to have enough Senate support to avoid a resolution of disapproval from being voted on in that chamber, meaning he will likely not have to veto a Congressional rejection of the deal.
