Murphy on Trump-Iran Deal: This Agreement Exposes What a Colossal Mistake This War Was

WASHINGTON-U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, on Wednesday took to the Senate floor to lay out how President Trump's announced deal to end the war with Iran has functionally eliminated America's leverage in nuclear negotiations, emboldened the hardliners in the regime and weakened the United States on the world stage.

Murphy emphasized the war must come to an end - but dispelled any illusions that the Trump administration made a good deal: "As gas prices eclipse $6 a gallon in many places, as Americans are killed, as new wars break out in the region, as farms go bankrupt with the ballooning diesel prices, every single day this war has gone on, it has become a worse debacle for the United States and the American people. So, I have been prepared to swallow basically any deal to end the war…I knew the deal was likely going to be humiliating for the United States of America, but I didn't know it was going to be this humiliating. I didn't know the deal was going to be this bad. The war needs to end basically upon any terms, but it is important for us tonight, as we are reading the details of this agreement, to understand how the terms of this agreement are final, clear, and total proof of how calamitous this war was, and how it should be a lesson for both Republicans and Democrats for this administration and every future administration to never make this mistake again."

He detailed how the Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. and Iran is really just a surrender by the Trump administration: "Iran is making no new commitments. They are agreeing to open the Strait. The Strait was open before the war began. They are promising that they will not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon. They had already promised that before the war began. They are agreeing to talk about restraining their nuclear research program. They were willing to talk about that prior to the war beginning. So, Iran is making no new commitments that did not exist before the war…What is the United States committing to in this agreement? Well, it's a little hard to decipher because of the terms, which are either mistakenly or deliberately fuzzy, but we at least know that the United States is committing immediately to release all oil sanctions and to let Iran trade oil for free all around the world. That is billions, billions of windfall dollars to the Iranian treasury. The United States is agreeing to free up frozen Iranian money. It could be around $24 billion that will be going immediately to the [Iranian] Treasury."

Murphy explained why any future nuclear negotiations are unlikely to succeed: "The Iranians don't have to worry about oil sanctions - they're gone. The Iranians don't have to worry about getting back their frozen funds or transferring them. They don't have to worry about an American military response, because they've already seen it and they've survived. They don't need to worry about going up against the United States, China, and Russia, because China and Russia are now on their side. These nuclear negotiations are just destined to fail. I hope I'm wrong, but on the back side of this war, the President has almost no leverage. What's left? We've dropped this agreement, dropped the oil sanctions, it frees up the frozen funds. He's already played the military card."

He reiterated that previous presidents and competent leadership universally understood why going to war with Iran was a fool's errand: "All of this was predictable. I've listened to my hardline colleagues argue that the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, or to destroy their missiles, or to stop their support for terrorism, is to go to war with Iran. Well, we went to war with Iran for 100 days, and on the back side of it, they still have their nuclear program, they still have their missiles, they still have their drones, they're still supporting terrorism. It didn't work, and most of us knew it wasn't going to work. Most of us said that if you go to war with Iran, we will end up in a worse position, and here we are in a fundamentally worse position. The entire scope of this agreement basically boils down to a multi-billion dollar payment to Iran, so that Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz. What a disaster that is."

A full transcript of Murphy's remarks is available below.

Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, I have long wanted this war with Iran to end. Every single day, this war has become a deepening, cascading disaster for the American people. As gas prices eclipse $6 a gallon in many places, as Americans are killed, as new wars break out in the region, as farms go bankrupt with the ballooning diesel prices, every single day this war has gone on, it has become a worse debacle for the United States and the American people. So, I have been prepared to swallow basically any deal to end the war, and my desire is still to stop this war. I knew the deal was likely going to be bad. I knew the deal was likely going to be humiliating for the United States of America, but I didn't know it was going to be this humiliating. I didn't know the deal was going to be this bad. The war needs to end. Basically upon any terms. But, it is important for us tonight, as we are reading the details of this agreement, to understand how the terms of this agreement are final, clear, and total proof of how calamitous this war was, and how it should be a lesson, for both Republicans and Democrats, for this administration and every future administration, to never make this mistake again.

So, let's go through the terms of this agreement, which is all of two pages, negotiated by real estate developers cosplaying as diplomats. Let's start with the immediate commitments. What are the immediate commitments that Iran is making, and the United States are making? Iran is making no new commitments. They are agreeing to open the Strait. The Strait was open before the war began. They are promising that they will not develop or obtain a nuclear weapon. They had already promised that before the war began. They are agreeing to talk about restraining their nuclear research program. They were willing to talk about that prior to the war beginning. So, Iran is making no new commitments that did not exist before the war. Before the war, they committed to keep the Strait open. Before the war, they committed to develop no nuclear weapons. Before the war, they were willing to talk about the rest of their nuclear research program.

What is the United States committing to in this agreement? Well, it's a little hard to decipher because of the terms, which are either mistakenly or deliberately fuzzy, but we at least know that the United States is committing, immediately, to release all oil sanctions and to let Iran trade oil for free all around the world. That is billions, billions of windfall dollars to the Iranian treasury. The United States is agreeing to free up frozen Iranian money. It could be around $24 billion that will be going immediately to the [Iranian] Treasury. Those are the immediate commitments that the United States is making.

Okay, let's talk about what's not in this agreement, what is not included in the commitments that are being made in the short term. Iran is making no commitments on reductions or controls on their missile program or their drone program or their support for terrorism. In fact, you can see a video today of Donald Trump saying, "I think it's cool for Iran to have missiles. I think it's kind of unfair to say that Iran shouldn't have missiles if everybody else has it." He literally said this on TV today. For the last 100 days, Donald Trump and the administration have been telling us that the American people have to sacrifice, and go to war, and spend billions of dollars, and have 13 Americans killed, and suffer through $6 a gallon gas prices because we have to stop Iran from having missiles. The presiding officer and I have sat in briefings in which we have been told that the point of this war is to destroy Iran's missile capacity, and now the president is saying it just doesn't matter.

President Trump's goals shifted, but they seemed to be to get a regime that was more friendly to the United States and Israel. We have a harder line regime now in charge of the country than we did before. We had a doddering 80 year old Ayatollah. We now have a, frankly, much more capable and much more provocative hardline regime. He said we wanted to get rid of the drone program. The drone program is still there. There's nothing in this agreement about their drone program. Wanted to get rid of their missile program. Nothing in this agreement about their missile program. Wanted to get rid of their nuclear program, and he pledged that he would carry out this war in a way that got a better deal than President Obama did. Of course he had to promise that, because he pulled out of the JCPOA. He got none of it in this agreement. He got none of it in this agreement. Yes, in this agreement, there is a suggestion that there is now going to be a negotiation between the United States and Iran over their nuclear program, but that negotiation was available before this war began.

Now the president may argue that this war has given him additional leverage. That is nonsensical. There is fundamentally less leverage today than there was before the war began. Let's just go through it for a second. When Obama was negotiating the nuclear deal, he had the oil sanctions in place. Those are the most serious sanctions, right? Iran runs on oil revenue. So, the primary leverage Obama had during those negotiations was the oil sanctions. We are releasing all of the oil sanctions before the nuclear negotiations happen. That is malpractice. Overnight, immediately, the leverage available for nuclear negotiations essentially goes up in smoke. We are also giving them billions of dollars in frozen funds.

In the earlier negotiations, President Obama had Russia and China on our side. Donald Trump has mishandled foreign relations, such that now Iran [China] and Russia are on the Iranian side. Fundamentally different leverage. And maybe most importantly, President Obama had the threat of military action. If you don't get a deal, we can always take military action. Well, that leverage is gone as well, because Iran took our best shot, not only survived, but got the United States to sign an agreement where we are paying them billions of dollars in order to end the war, including a suggestion that we're going to create a $300 billion reparations fund. Guess what? If you studied history, you know that the winning side doesn't pay reparations. The losers pay reparations.

And so, the Iranians don't have to worry about oil sanctions - they're gone. The Iranians don't have to worry about getting back their frozen funds or transferring them. They don't have to worry about an American military response, because they've already seen it and they've survived. They don't need to worry about going up against the United States, China, and Russia, because China and Russia are now on their side. These nuclear negotiations are just destined to fail. I hope I'm wrong, but on the back side of this war, the President has almost no leverage. What's left? This agreement drops the oil sanctions. It frees up the frozen funds. He's already played the military card.

There's a suggestion in this document that there's going to be a specific negotiation about the enriched uranium that Iran holds. Now, remember, when Obama was negotiating with Iran, they had [20%] enriched uranium. They weren't close to the enrichment capacity to make a bomb. Today, they have 60% enrichment capacity. Because Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement, Iran now has 60%, and everybody knows that to get from 60% to the quality you need to produce a bomb takes a matter of days. Iran says, in this agreement, that they'll talk about the enriched uranium. But, they're willing to talk about the enriched uranium being degraded to 3%, which is the number in the JCPOA. So, they basically signal in this agreement that, yeah, we'll talk about getting rid of our enriched uranium or diluting it, but we're just going to talk about the same thing that we were talking to the Obama administration about.

All of this was predictable. All of this was predictable. I've listened to my hardline colleagues argue that the only way to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, or to destroy their missiles, or to stop their support for terrorism, is to go to war with Iran. Well, we went to war with Iran for 100 days, and on the back side of it, they still have their nuclear program, they still have their missiles, they still have their drones, they're still supporting terrorism. It didn't work, and most of us knew it wasn't going to work. Most of us said that if you go to war with Iran, we will end up in a worse position, and here we are in a fundamentally worse position.

The entire scope of this agreement basically boils down to a multi-billion dollar payment to Iran, so that Iran opens the Strait of Hormuz. What a disaster that is. And insult to injury, the text says that Iran promises to open the Strait for… 10 years? Nope. Five years? A year? No. Iran says, we will open the Strait of Hormuz for two months toll-free, and then after that period of time, we will consult with the government of Oman on the tolling structure. So, open for 60 days, and then Oman and Iran will talk about the new structure.

I knew it was going to be a humiliating agreement. I didn't know it was going to be this humiliating. I want the war to end. I'm willing to stomach a bad deal, but this agreement exposes what a colossal mistake it was - the biggest foreign policy blunder of 20 years to start this war - and why every hawk who cheerled us into war with Iran was wrong. We didn't get anything that you thought we were going to get out of this. I am hopeful that I am wrong about these negotiations. I am hopeful that new leverage will materialize, but I don't see any leverage at all. It's given up in this agreement. It's given up in the way that this war has been perpetuated. I'm glad the war is over. But, I'm furious that it has resulted in our nation's humiliation, in Iran becoming stronger, and America becoming weaker. Everybody, Republicans and Democrats, should be furious about that. I yield the floor.