Arizona Congressional Delegation Weighs In On Iran Decision

By Holliday Moore
Published: Tuesday, October 17, 2017 - 9:00am

While the White House urges Congress and U.S. Allies to address serious flaws in the Iran nuclear deal before President Trump certifies it, Arizona delegates are sounding off.

For different reasons, Republican Rep. Trent Franks and Democrat Rep. Kyrsten Sinema agree it was not the right deal when then President Barack Obama signed it.

"Instead of giving Iran the nuclear option, we should have taken the nuclear option and stopped that insane deal in the first place," Franks said.

But, Sinema disagrees entirely with Franks on backing out of the deal.

"You know, I voted 'No,' on the Iran agreement," Sinema said, referring to when it went to the congressional floor two years ago. "I thought it was not the right agreement for our country to sign. But, once we signed it, I believed that our job is to implement it very strongly."

Democrat and Republican Reps. Raul Grijalva and David Schweikert have concerns from a global perspective that Trump's reneging will damage America's credibility.

"Why would anybody trust the United States to keep their word on an agreement as major as Iran, when we're confronting North Korea and other situations?" Grijalva said.

Schweikert had nearly the same question, "If you were to cancel, do we A) lose the leverage, but B) do we also lose the leverage with the European partners who are supposed to be helping us engage in enforcement?"

The Iran Nuclear Deal requires certification by the U.S. President every three months.

Trump refused to certify it on Friday and had not asked Congress to impose sanctions immediately, which would allow Iran to back out of the deal to reignite its own nuclear development program.