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Senator Ed Markey: Trump Failed, Diplomacy Works

'The Best and Only Durable Way to Prevent a Nuclear Iran'

February 7, 2022

Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey today spoke out in support of the Biden administration’s ongoing diplomatic efforts to curtail Iran’s nuclear program and avoid military escalation following President Trump’s reckless withdrawal from the seven-nation Iran nuclear deal in 2018. 

“The best and only durable way to prevent a nuclear Iran and a catastrophic war is through diplomacy,” Senator Markey said, noting that President Obama’s Iran deal eliminated 98% of Iran’s stock of enriched uranium, cut off its plutonium pathway to a nuclear weapon and implemented the strictest verification measures ever negotiated in a nonproliferation agreement.

“Trump’s unilateral decision lifted the lid that the world placed on Iran’s nuclear program and raised US tensions with Tehran, bringing us perilously close to a war on two occasions,” Markey said. 

WATCH NOW: Senator Markey on why diplomacy works and maximum pressure does not

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In the first weeks of the Biden administration, Senator Markey reintroduced the Iran Diplomacy Act, legislation which backs the Biden administration’s efforts to return the United States to the Iran Nuclear Deal, provided Iran also comes back into full-compliance with its nonproliferation commitments.

“Military action will not prevent Iran from entering the nuclear weapons club. It is likely to spur it on,” Markey said. “Only a negotiated agreement can move us beyond the dangerous status quo: an aggressive Iran regionally that is also not abiding by the limits on its nuclear activities.”

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