Dem senator: Iran nuke framework has ‘no real specificity’
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), a Democratic co-sponsor of a bill to review any deal with Iran, said Sunday a framework agreement dealing with Iran’s nuclear program lacks specificity on key issues.
“The more we see of it, the less there seems to be agreement on,” Blumenthal said in an interview with John Catsimatidis on his show “The Cats Roundtable” in New York.
{mosads}While President Obama has suggested sanctions on Iran won’t be lifted until new limits on Tehran’s nuclear program are in place for some time, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has demanded sanctions be immediately lifted, the lawmaker noted.
Blumenthal, one of eight Democrats co-sponsoring a bill introduced by Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) that would allow Congress two months to review any deal reached with Iran, including any to lift sanctions, also cast doubt on international inspections that are part of the framework.
“There is no real specificity on how this deal will be enforced or verified or inspected,” he said. “Any agreement, any law, is worthless unless it’s strictly and vigilantly enforced.”
“I think there are as many questions about this so-called understanding as there are answers. And that’s why I believe that Congress has a role to play,” he added.
The Obama administration earlier this month unveiled the preliminary terms reached between the U.S. and five world leaders with Iran, though has faced a deeply skeptical Congress and international community ahead of a June 30 deadline for a final agreement.
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