Although he’s shown general support of the Iran nuclear deal, Sen. Chris Murphy has been coy on the ultimate question posed to lawmakers: Will you vote for it? Murphy answered that question Wednesday when he became one of the few Senate Democrats to publicly back the controversial agreement.
“The test for this agreement is simple: Is Iran less likely to obtain a nuclear weapon with this deal or without it?” Murphy said in a speech on the Senate floor Wednesday. “Because I answer this question affirmatively […] I’m going to support the agreement.”
Sen. Chris Murphy
At the first Senate hearing to debate the deal in July, the Connecticut senator emerged as a defender of the agreement, which reins in Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief. Now, Murphy’s support is official.
Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has long promoted diplomacy over war. He was elected to the House in 2006 on a platform of opposing war in Iraq, and praised the Obama administration for negotiating with Iran while speaking at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in July.
The senator said he still sees problems with the deal. But he said the benefits of the agreement — namely, curtailing Iran’s nuclear program — outweigh the consequences of walking away.
“This idea that you can get a better deal, to me, appears like pure fantasy,” he said.
Murphy pointed to his state’s “longstanding belief” in the “worthiness” of prioritizing diplomacy over military action as an influence on his decision.
He also suggested that the alternative to the agreement could be war. Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, one leader in the Republican opposition to the deal, has suggested military strikes on Iran instead.
“I get that people don’t like the choice that the President presents,” Murphy said. “But at some point we have to take Senator Cotton and his allies seriously when they continue to make the case for war and oversimplify the effects of a military strike.”
Still, the Obama administration is a long way from shoring up the necessary votes to support the P5+1 deal with Iran when it comes to a vote next month.