Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee have slammed United States Vice President JD Vance over the demand to Iranian regime to not build nuclear weapons, saying Tehran already made that commitment in 2015 under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Referring to the termination of the deal in 2018 when Trump was in power, the committee alleged that the Trump administration has dragged America into a war American families are now paying for.
In a post on X, House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems said, “Vance says the goal is getting Iran to commit to not build a nuclear weapon. It already made that commitment in 2015 under the JCPOA—a deal Trump tore up.”
“Now this admin has dragged the country into a pointless war to recover ground it gave away—and American families are paying the price,” it said.
What was the JCPOA deal?
Under the deal made during the Obama administration, Tehran had reaffirmed that under no circumstances “will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons.”
“The full implementation of this JCPOA will ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of. Iran reaffirms that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons,” it said.
“Successful implementation of this JCPOA will enable Iran to fully enjoy its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the relevant articles of the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in line with its obligations therein, and the Iranian nuclear programme will be treated in the same manner as that of any other non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT.”
Why did Trump terminate the deal?
In 2018, claiming to “protect America from a bad deal”, The then Trump administration announced that the President was terminating the United States’ participation in the JCPOA with Iran and re-imposing sanctions lifted under the deal.
Terming it as “one-sided transaction”, the then administration claimed that the deal “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, while at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to preserve nuclear research and development.”
About the deal, it said, “The program and did not include a strong enough mechanism for inspections and verification. The JCPOA foolishly gave the Iranian regime a windfall of cash and access to the international financial system for trade and investment.”
And claimed, “Instead of using the money from the JCPOA to support the Iranian people at home, the regime has instead funded a military buildup and continues to fund its terrorist proxies, such as Hizballah and Hamas.”
