HELENA – The two Republican members of Montana’s congressional delegation praised President Trump’s decision Tuesday to pull the United States out of the agreement on Iran’s nuclear development.
U.S. Sen. Steve Daines called the agreement “this disastrous deal,” and U.S. Rep. Greg Gianforte said the United States “gave up far too much, for far too little” in the six-nation deal reached in 2015.
The other member of Montana’s delegation, Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Tester, has not yet responded to a request for comment by MTN News. In the past, Tester has been supportive of the deal negotiated by former President Barack Obama.
Trump announced Tuesday that the United States will withdraw from the deal, in which Iran recommitted to the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which calls for no development of nuclear weapons. He also said he would reinstate economic sanctions against Iran.
Daines said that the deal “opened the door” for Iran to pursue its nuclear ambitions and to be “a destabilizing force in the region.”
“I applaud the president for seeing the Iran regime as the extremist, anti-American country that it is, and taking actions that give us the best chance at peace,” he said.
Gianforte said Obama never should have agreed to the deal in the first place, and that Iran has “for decades … operated in bad faith, sponsored terrorist activity and called for the destruction of Israel.”
Democratic U.S. Senator Jon Tester said America can’t “go this alone” – and should keep pressure on Iran to keep it from developing nuclear weapons.
Five other countries signed on to the deal in 2015, along with Iran and the United States: France, Germany, Russia, China and Great Britain.
Iran agreed to constraints designed to ensure that its nuclear program would be used only for for peaceful purposes, such as energy production.
