Reps. Barbara Lee (D-CA), David Price (D-NC), and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) introduced the resolution Tuesday, urging the administration to re-enter the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), according to a report by Foreign Affairs.
In addition to rejoining the JCPOA, the resolution encourages the Trump administration to engage in immediate de-escalation measures and to use sustained diplomacy as a tool to address other challenges with Iran.
“Trump’s Iran policy is responsible for this self-inflicted crisis,” said Congresswoman Barbara Lee. “As someone who played a key role in building Congressional support for the JCPOA, it is disappointing to find ourselves dangerously close to a military confrontation with Iran because of the administration’s disastrous decision to unilaterally withdraw from the Iran deal on May 8, 2018. “
She further called on the administration to avoid military confrontation with Iran.
“We need serious and sustained diplomatic engagement to remove us from the path to war and on to a path of peace and diplomacy, and that’s what this critical resolution calls for,” she asserted.
Price, meanwhile, noted that the US unilateral pressure has failed to bring Iran to the negotiating table.
“If we look at current events, we see that President Trump’s rash decision to pull the US out of the Iran nuclear agreement has brought us no closer to bringing Iran to the negotiating table – it’s only emboldened Iranian hardliners, incentivized Iran to return to previously prohibited nuclear activity, and threatened our own credibility and leadership,” said the North Carolina congressman.“This resolution sends a strong message from Congress to the administration: we must return to the JCPOA, and we must return to meaningful diplomatic engagement—peace, security, and United States leadership is at stake.”
Schakowsky, on the other hand, asserted that Trump has no Iran strategy or “vision in the Middle East.”
“With no strategy in Iran and no vision in the Middle East, President Trump’s reckless decision to pull out of the JCPOA has increased tensions around the world, pushed the United States closer to armed conflict with Iran, and severely diminished US leadership and leverage,” Schakowsky said. “We have been isolated from allies, have opened the door for Iran to become non-compliant, and have dissuaded other nations from negotiating agreements with the United States."
He said it was time to rejoin the JCPOA and work with US partners on a diplomatic approach to encourage Iran to remain compliant with its JCPOA-related commitments.
Donald Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, formally known as the JCPOA, in May 2018, and re-imposed sanctions on Iran which had been lifted under the agreement. With the three European signatories to the deal, namely UK, France and Germany, failing to live up to their own commitments and secure Iran's economic interests in the face of US sanctions, the agreement has been rendered ineffective, prompting Iran to take measures in reducing the level of its commitments in a bid to save the agreement.
MNA/PR