Arizona Congresswoman Ann Kirkpatrick, threw her full support behind the controversial Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, commonly referred to as the Iran Nuclear Agreement. Kirkpatrick claimed the plan “provides a way forward.”
Kirkpatrick admitted that “no approach to Iran is without risk, and the deal is not perfect,” but believes “the United States has an opportunity to lead the world on a historic and critical diplomatic course against danger and chaos.”
“Global conflicts and rapid change demand stronger and more durable protections for our nation and allies. The Iraq War took a tremendous toll on our country, and I believe we must do everything in our power, in concert with five of the world’s largest powers, to prevent a dangerous proliferation of nuclear weapons and a new war,” said Kirkpatrick in a statement released on Wednesday.
Kirkpatrick announced that she is running for the Seante seat currently held by John McCain.
McCain blasted the Iran deal on Wednesday on the floor of the U.S. Senate. He stated that if the “agreement fails, and U.S. service members are called upon to take military action in Iran, their lives could be at greater risk because of the terms of this deal.”
“Iran is not just an arms control challenge. It is a geopolitical challenge…[W]e have watched with alarm as Iran’s military and intelligence operatives have stepped up their destabilizing activities in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Bahrain, Gaza, and elsewhere,” continued McCain. “Iran did all of this under the full pressure of sanctions. Now Iran will receive tens of billions of dollars in sanctions relief. To be sure, a good amount of that money will go to Iran’s domestic priorities. But much of it will also surely flow to Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps and Qods Force—groups that, according to the next Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joe Dunford, were responsible for the deaths of several hundred U.S. service members in Iraq.”
McCain stated that what he found “most troubling about the Iran deal” is that “it embodies, and will likely exacerbate, the collapse of America’s global influence that is occurring under this Administration—and indeed, has so often been catalyzed by its policies.”