Democrats on the House Foreign Affairs Committee criticized United States Vice President JD Vance for demanding that the Iranian regime not develop nuclear weapons, a commitment Tehran already made in 2015 under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Citing the termination of the agreement in 2018 when Trump was in power, the committee argued that the Trump administration dragged America into a war that American families are now paying the price for.
In a post on X, House Foreign Affairs Committee Dems said: “Vance says the goal is to get Iran to commit not to develop a nuclear weapon. It made that commitment back in 2015 as part of the JCPOA — the deal that Trump tore up.”
“Now this admin has dragged the country into a senseless war to reclaim the territory it gave away — and American families are paying the price,” it said.
What was the JCPOA?
As part of the deal struck during the Obama administration, Tehran reaffirmed that under no circumstances will “Iran ever seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons.”
“The full implementation of this JCPOA will ensure the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program. Iran reaffirms that Iran will never seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons under any circumstances,” it said.
“Successful implementation of this JCPOA will allow Iran to fully exercise its right to nuclear energy for peaceful purposes under the relevant articles of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) in accordance with its obligations therein, and Iran’s nuclear program will be treated in the same way as any other non-nuclear-weapon state party to the NPT.”
Why did Trump terminate the agreement?
In 2018, the then-Trump administration, claiming it was “protecting America from a bad deal,” announced that the president was ending the United States’ participation in the JCPOA with Iran and reimposing sanctions lifted under the deal.
Calling it a “one-sided transaction,” the administration at the time argued that the deal “enriched the Iranian regime and enabled its malign behavior, at best delaying its ability to pursue nuclear weapons and allowing it to maintain nuclear research and development.”
The agreement read: “The The JCPOA failed to deal with the Iranian missile threat program and did not include a strong enough mechanism for checks and verification. The JCPOA foolishly provided the Iranian regime with windfall cash and access to the international financial system for trade and investment.
And he claimed: “Instead of using JCPOA money to support the Iranian people at home, the regime has instead funded a military buildup and continues to fund its terrorist proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas.
