[Congressional Record Volume 172, Number 100 (Monday, June 15, 2026)]
[Senate]
[Page S2775]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  IRAN

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, on a separate topic, over the weekend, we 
learned that the United States and Iran had reached a preliminary deal 
to end the current conflict. While I am glad that we might be seeing an 
end to the hostilities, I am deeply concerned about what might be in 
that agreement.
  What was announced was only an end to the fighting, Iran's 
stranglehold over the Strait of Hormuz, and the U.S. blockade--moves 
that return us to the status quo before the President's invasion of 
Iran, over 100 days ago. In fact, after months of being promised an 
imminent deal by President Trump, the current loose framework 
stunningly avoids critical issues related to Iran's nuclear program. 
Don't you remember that was the reason he gave for invading this 
country?
  And from what was being reported, the terms and the sanctions relief 
sound very similar to an agreement which was reached by President Obama 
and the Iranian people, before the election of Donald Trump--the JCPOA.
  Let me be clear. Iran and its proxies and its nuclear program are all 
threats to the United States and its allies. But did we really start a 
war to return to the same deal President Trump abandoned during his 
first term as President? Is that it?
  Now, I have heard my colleagues lament the Obama-era deal was weak 
and ineffective, compared to what President Trump has negotiated.
  Let's be clear on the key points from that Obama agreement. It 
severely restricted Iran's enrichment capabilities, notably extending 
nuclear weapon breakout time. It also included some of the most 
intrusive inspections ever agreed to--international inspections of Iran 
during the Obama administration.
  In fact, I hosted the IAEA Director General a number of times in my 
office. I sat across from him and asked him point-blank: Are there any 
doors locked? Are there any doors blocked that you can't get into to 
find out what is going on?
  He said: No. Every time we identify anything like that, they open the 
doors.
  Inspections, though difficult, were working.
  The deal included the backing of the P5+1 nations under President 
Obama. He didn't go it alone, as President Trump did in his invasion of 
Iran. The nations that joined in supporting the JCPOA of President 
Obama included, of all things, Russia and China. Today, we stand alone 
in our negotiations with Iran.
  The Obama agreement included specific wording, which said:

       Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever 
     seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons.

  I was watching one of the television shows yesterday. One of my 
colleagues on the other side of the aisle obviously missed this point. 
He said there was no guarantee in terms of nuclear weapons in Iran.
  Well, there was never a guarantee, but there was a pledge and a 
promise--an enforceable one--and enforceable inspections.
  It sounds to me, under the best case scenario, in which all enriched 
uranium--the most dangerous of which was developed under Trump, after 
he withdrew from the JCPOA--is removed from Iran, we are simply moving 
toward the same type of agreement all over again, at a cost of billions 
of dollars to the American taxpayer.
  I sure hope my Republican colleagues, who so loudly objected to the 
JCPOA, will scrutinize Trump's deal with the same zeal and that we have 
just that opportunity, because we passed a measure, back during the 
early Obama negotiations, called the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act.
  Several Senators joined in that effort and won. Senator Tim Kaine of 
Virginia still serves in this body.
  This was bipartisan legislation, passed overwhelmingly in 2015, which 
will apply to any new agreement with Iran. The law requires the 
administration to submit to Congress, within 5 days, any agreement with 
Iran over its nuclear program, after which the Foreign Relations 
Committees will hold hearings. And then Congress can vote to approve or 
disapprove the deal.
  So I look forward to a close look at what the final deal looks like. 
And if, as predicted, it is similar to what Trump abandoned, we have to 
ask ourselves whether this war was really worth the American lives and 
the cost in American servicemembers.

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