ICYMI: Sen. Lieberman Warns Against U.S. Rejoining JCPOA

(New York, N.Y.) – On Monday, United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI) Chairman Senator Joseph I. Lieberman joined Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria to discuss the ongoing multilateral negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran over the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). When asked by Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo about his thoughts on the U.S. potentially rejoining the JCPOA, Senator Lieberman said:

“The Biden Administration has said encouragingly that they want to get back into the Iran nuclear agreement and they want to lengthen it and strengthen it. Well, that’s a way to say that the original agreement was not as strong or long as it should have been, and I couldn’t agree more. But the danger here is that we will give Iran what it most wants, which is an end to the economic pressure on them before we get anything out of them in the way of ending their nuclear program. And once the economic sanctions are off of Iran, that’s the end of the negotiations as far as they are concerned. So, I’m worried about what’s happening, I’m worried that once again we are going to reach an agreement and have a bad agreement that will compromise our security and the security of our allies in the region including Israel and most of the Arab world.”

To view Senator Lieberman’s appearance on Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria, please click here.

Senator Lieberman further echoed these concerns in a letter to the editor published to The New York Times and an op-ed featured in The New York Daily News. 

In the letter, Senator Lieberman and UANI CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace argued against the U.S. lifting economic sanctions against Iran and urged President Biden not to make the same mistake as in 2015 when the architects of the nuclear deal pushed through an agreement without the support of both parties in Congress and its allies in the region. 

“President Biden can use the leverage resulting from economic sanctions in conjunction with a broad and united coalition of members of Congress and allies to push for a comprehensive and durable agreement with Iran that accounts for our allies’ concerns and elicits meaningful concessions from the regime. Now is not the time to change course, until Iran does.”

In the op-ed, Senator Lieberman called upon President Biden to strengthen America’s hand in any negotiations by restoring bipartisan consensus on how the U.S. should confront the Iranian threat. 

“Recognizing that trust must be rebuilt between party leaders in the United States, the Biden administration could announce the principles that will guide its strategy. Among these can be a refusal to provide sanctions relief until the Iranian regime reverses its nuclear violations, stops its proxies from attacking U.S. forces in the region, ends its support for terror groups and releases its hostages. These are principles that are at the core of restoring bipartisan consensus that will address the realities on the ground and the totality of the Iranian threat.” 

To read Senator Lieberman and Ambassador Wallace’s letter to the editor in The New York Times, please click here.

To read Senator Lieberman’s op-ed in The New York Daily News, please click here. 

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