White House Urges Congress to Judge Iran Deal ‘On Its Merits’

‘We continue to urge members of Congress as well as the American public to judge the deal on its merits’

“Today, some of you may have seen a letter in support of the deal signed by some 60 former senior U.S. government officials from both, Democratic and Republican administrations… We continue to urge members of Congress as well as the American public to judge the deal on its merits. We are confident if they do, they will reach the same conclusion that so many of those who know these issues best already have… The Iranian government will be under intense pressure to make sure that they don't end back up under those sanctions. That is the way that we see this working out. I think the other thing that’s important is there is no sanctions relief that is given until Iran has taken important steps to demonstrate the compliance to the agreement which means a significantly rolling back to the nuclear program… If Iran cheats on the deal -- that all options will be available. The most obvious and direct one would be to snap sanctions back in place. We know that’s pretty effective because the Iranians responded to that kind of economic pressure previously… Military option will continue to be available to this president or the next one as well. And in fact, that option is likely to be enhanced based on the knowledge about Iran’s nuclear program that’s developed in the context of all of these inspections.”

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