'I hate this,' Rand Paul said, arguing that the situation with Iran was much better under the nuclear deal.
The senator then laid out the steps the Trump administration had taken against Iran since withdrawing from the JCPOA, arguing that the president's actions have only made the situation worse."I think it is the death of diplomacy," he said,"and I see no way to get it back started again until sort of the revenge of the Iranian people is somehow sated."
He continued:"I hate this. I hate that this is where we are going.... There was much less killing, much less violence after the Iran agreement." Under the nuclear deal,"we were heading to a much more stable situation with Iran," the senator said.White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham responded to Paul's criticism in a later segment of"I don't know if I agree with that. The president has said that Iran—he is welcome to talking to them, with no preconditions," she said.
Trump had long criticized the JCPOA and withdrew from the international agreement in May 2018, despite consistent reports from U.N. inspectors showing that Iran was complying with its obligations under the deal. The JCPOA, which was also signed by the European Union, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Russia and China, provided Iran with sanctions relief and international investment in exchange for curbing its nuclear program.
Iranians set U.S. and Israeli flags on fire during a January 6 funeral procession in Tehran to mourn slain military commander Qassem Soleimani.Iran remained committed to the nuclear agreement for one year following Trump's withdrawal, even as it suffered under renewed U.S. sanctions. To salvage the treaty, Iranian leaders negotiated with the deal's other signatories, which had criticized the U.S. exit.
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