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A Republican senator on Thursday expressed skepticism about the tentative agreement struck by Iran and the U.S., which replaces the previous Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) dissolved under the first Trump administration.
“They’re going to have to come explain this because we did have very serious problems with the JCPOA. I don’t want to see JCPOA 2.0,” Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) told The Hill’s broadcast partner, NewsNation.
The senator, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, was asked by NewsNation’s Joe Khalil about the differences between the Obama-era nuclear agreement and the deal struck by the Trump administration.
White House officials on Wednesday provided a readout of the 14-point memorandum of understanding (MOU), which includes provisions to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the months-long war.
Ernst raised questions about the inclusion of a $300 billion fund for Iran in the agreement to aid the country’s reconstruction and economic development.
“I have to know where that money is coming from because I don’t think my constituents are going to be really happy about it if that’s all U.S. taxpayer dollars,” Ernst said. “If it is their money that we are releasing, that might be a different story.”
Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker (R) similarly expressed concern over the reconstruction fund and drew an analogy to the JCPOA, saying the MOU “would make Iran’s payoff under President Obama’s 2015 deal look like a pittance by comparison.”
Vice President Vance defended the MOU’s terms and disputed reports of concerns from Republican lawmakers during a press briefing at the White House on Thursday.
“So many of what I’ve read or heard that people believe about this is fundamentally untrue,” Vance told reporters.
The vice president urged critics to “have a little faith” in the president’s decisionmaking and said this agreement is about “rewarding good conduct and punishing bad conduct.”
“The idea that he is going to strike a deal that’s been bad for the American people, it’s preposterous,” he said. “He is the person who has had the courage to fundamentally transform our relationship with Iran and with a lot of other countries over the last year and a half.”
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