Sens. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) on Monday joined a bipartisan group of lawmakers who are opposed to the nuclear deal reached with Iran, citing contradictions between the agreement and U.N. Security Council resolutions.
“The plan does not require the Iranians to suspend enrichment as required by existing U.N. Security Council resolutions,” Collins said. “It also apparently does not require the dismantling of centrifuges and does not deal with delivery systems.”
Collins said that the nuclear agreement does not require construction of a heavy water nuclear reactor In Arak, Iran, to stop. The accord also does not require that the reactor be converted into a light water reactor, which would be less useful in the production of nuclear materials.
“In the next weeks, the Senate will closely examine whether the administration’s plan to ease sanctions worth billions of dollars to the Iranians in exchange for this agreement is the right policy,” Collins said. “At this point, I have many concerns about whether or not this plan is in America’s best interests.”
The deal will provide approximately $7 billion in relief by lifting economic sanctions, while not requiring that Iran destroy its stockpile of 20-percent enriched uranium.
“Any deal that gives billions in sanctions relief to the world’s largest state sponsor of terror while letting them continue to enrich is a bad deal,” Roberts said.