Iran deal comes under fire from Democrats before it is inked

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Democratic lawmakers throughout the weekend have criticized a prospective deal between the U.S. and Iranian governments, before the two sides finalize an agreement.

Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the U.S. would be receiving “less” under a proposed deal with Iran that it got from the Islamic Republic via the deal that the Obama administration negotiated to curb Tehran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

Reed added that the President Trump “wants to give himself a birthday present” with the deal. The president turns 80 years old on Sunday.

“So, we have spent billions of dollars. We’ve lost 14 personnel killed in action, hundreds wounded, and we’ve disrupted the world economy. And we’re getting basically less than what we had under the JCPOA, which President Trump walked away from,” Reed told host Shannon Bream, referring to the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement.

Trump removed the U.S. from that deal during his first term and has repeatedly said in recent months that an agreement between his administration and Iran would be superior to it.

The terms of the latest draft deal include the U.S. releasing $25 billion in frozen Iranian assets, with Iran also agreeing to not produce or acquire nuclear weapons, a senior Iranian official told Reuters.

The president also said early Sunday that the Strait of Hormuz, which the Iranian military has restricted shipping through since the U.S. and Israel launched the conflict, will “be opening shortly.”

Esmail Baghaei, a spokesperson for the Iranian Foreign Ministry, said that the two governments will not sign the deal on Sunday, contradicting Trump.

“It will NOT happen tomorrow, but it could take place in the coming days,” Baghaei told the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting on Saturday. “Due to the other side’s inconsistency, we must remain cautious in commenting on the process.”

Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, slammed the reported terms of the deal as “basically a surrender document” from Trump to Iranian Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.

“I mean, $100 billion of taxpayer money already put into this war, 14 Americans dead, and we get a deal that just reopens the strait that was already open before he started the war? How is that a win?” he told MS NOW on Saturday.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that while he would “have to take a look” at the terms of an agreement if the two sides finalize it, the war itself was “reckless” and “has been a disaster.”

Jeffries also criticized Trump for removing the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, arguing that the Islamic Republic is “stronger” and Americans are “less safe” under his leadership.

“As it relates to strengthening the national security of the American people, things aren’t better for us,” the New York Democrat told host Kristen Welker.

Jaime Harrison, the former chair of the Democratic National Committee, said Sunday that the response from Democratic lawmakers to the reported deal was predictable given that they “didn’t think that we needed to be engaged” in Iran in the first place.

The vast majority of congressional Democrats have voted in favor of war powers resolutions in an attempt to force Trump to wind down the conflict with Iran.

“I think there’s a lot of frustration. And I think the appetite for the American people for a long engagement in this region is short to none,” Harrison told host Laura Ingle on “NewsNation Live.”

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Donald Trump

Hakeem Jeffries

Jack Reed

Jaime Harrison

Kristen Welker

Mojtaba Khamenei

Obama

Seth Moulton

Shannon Bream

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