NEW Op-Ed: Nunn & Lugar Urge Support for Iran Nuclear Deal

In an op-ed published in Politico, former U.S. Senators Sam Nunn and Richard Lugar call on history to make the case for Congressional approval of the Iran nuclear agreement.

"In an ideal world, the Soviet Union would have agreed to more severe constraints than those agreed by Presidents Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan and Bush, for example. It would have dismantled all of its nuclear weapons, stopped its human rights abuses and halted its meddling around the world," they write. "But, as all of these presidents – Democratic and Republican – understood, holding out for the impossible is a recipe for no progress at all. Congress should take the same approach today to the Iran nuclear deal." 

Nunn and Lugar also commented on the verification provisions in the Iran nuclear deal, writing, "The monitoring and verification provisions of this agreement are unprecedented in the history of arms control in their comprehensiveness and intrusiveness, and together with our intelligence capabilities should give us powerful tools to achieve effective verification."

Warning against what might happen if Congress turns down the deal, they write, "U.S. leadership, diplomacy and credibility, including efforts to achieve support for possible military action against Iran, will all be severely damaged."

Asking members to search their conscience as they consider their vote on the deal, they underscore their bottom line: "This agreement represents our best chance to stop an Iranian bomb without another war in the Middle East."

Read the op-ed.