[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 497-498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         NUCLEAR DEAL WITH IRAN

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I will have more to say tomorrow about the 
legislation about which the Republican leader just spoke. Tomorrow 
afternoon we will have a vote as to whether we should move to the bill.
  Along with the rest of the world, I was pleased to learn this weekend 
that five political prisoners were finally released from Iran and will 
soon be home with their families. These Americans were unjustly held, 
and I am glad they will soon be in the arms of their loved ones once 
again.
  Preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon is one of the most 
pressing security challenges of our generation. A nuclear-armed Iran is 
a threat to the national security of the United States, the State of 
Israel, and the world.
  Last summer I announced my support for the historic nuclear agreement 
the United States and the global community made with Iran. This 
agreement required Iran to take significant steps to ensure that its 
nuclear infrastructure could not be used to build a nuclear bomb. These 
steps include, among other things, dismantling thousands and thousands 
of centrifuges that are used to enrich uranium, removing from Iran its 
enriched uranium, thus reducing its stockpile and eliminating the core 
of its plutonium reactor. The end result of these steps is that Iran's 
breakout time--the time it takes to make enough fissile material to 
build a bomb--has been extended from a matter of a few months to a 
year, and some experts would say much, much longer.
  Over the weekend, the International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed 
that Iran successfully implemented these initial requirements, an 
important next act in the implementation of the nuclear agreement.
  I applaud President Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Secretary 
of Energy Dr. Ernest Moniz, and Under Secretary of State Wendy Sherman 
for using America's diplomatic power to make the world a safer place. 
This diplomatic approach also avoids the significant costs and risks a 
military option would pose. One need only look at Iraq to find out what 
military options cost--trillions of dollars--because of the worst 
foreign policy decision in the history of our country: the invasion of 
Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of people are dead, millions have been 
displaced, thousands of Americans are dead, and tens of thousands badly 
wounded. The diplomatic approach avoids the costs and risks the nuclear 
option poses.
  No one should think all of the components of the Joint Comprehensive 
Plan of Action have been completed. They have not been. We are now at 
the beginning of a critical period where Iran must allow unprecedented 
inspections designed to allow the international community to know if 
Iran tries to break out and race toward building a nuclear weapon. We 
will know about it.
  Iran poses a threat to our Nation's most supportive ally in the 
Middle East, the State of Israel. Over my four decades in Congress, the 
safety and security of the Israeli people have been of the utmost 
importance to me and to this Congress generally, as you can see with 
the results of the last four decades. We must do everything and we must 
strive to protect the Israeli people, and that is why Iran must be held 
accountable for any action it takes that poses a threat to that small, 
little democracy.
  Iran must never obtain a missile capable of delivering a nuclear 
warhead.

[[Page 498]]

  I am pleased the administration announced it would impose sanctions 
on individuals and companies for providing support to Iran's ballistic 
missile program. These tests were in clear violation of the United 
Nations Security Council resolutions. One thing is clear: Iran must 
continue to be monitored with intense scrutiny.
  I remain concerned about Iran's ongoing human rights abuses and 
political oppression. Iran also remains a state sponsor of terrorism, 
using its proxies against Israel and against our interests throughout 
the Middle East.
  Congress must accept the critical role we play in providing vigorous 
oversight of the Iran agreement and Iran's compliance with the 
agreement, addressing Iran's ballistic missile program and monitoring 
Iran's actions in the region. This past weekend marked a key step 
forward to ensuring Iran never gains access to a nuclear weapon. We 
should always remember that the Iran deal, as it has been called, was 
to stop Iran from having nuclear weapon capability, and that has been 
accomplished.
  I look forward to working with my colleagues to keep Iran accountable 
and preserving the national security of both this Nation and our ally, 
the State of Israel.

                          ____________________