Florida Republican congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, chair of the Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee, has shared her view on the recent agreement with Iran:
“I’m disappointed that the agreement reached with Iran leaves our unfulfilled our ultimate objective: a complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program and related activities. In offering to ease sanctions in return for a six-month halt in the nuclear program, the agreement accepted by the administration simply does not go far enough to ensure our national security interests and those of our allies, like the democratic Jewish state of Israel.
“I’m particularly troubled by this agreement’s failure to force Tehran to completely stop uranium enrichment and dismantle its existing centrifuges, whose operation can be resumed quickly, allowing Iran to potentially reach nuclear capacity in a brief amount of time.
“We simply cannot trust the very man who has bragged about advancing Iran’s nuclear program while deceiving the West in his former position of chief negotiator. In light of President Obama’s claim that we have halted Iran’s nuclear program, we’d do well to remember that the one really calling the shots in Iran is Supreme Leader Khamenei, and he has repeatedly made clear his intent for Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.
“This deal falls short of our primary national security objectives, and it puts into unnecessary danger the security of our friends and allies.”