RBF President Joins National Security Figures in Calling for U.S. to Preserve Iran Deal

More than 100 current and former military officers, senior government officials, and other national security figures issued a public statement today urging the United States to maintain its commitment to the Iran Deal.

“Doing so will bring substantial benefits and strengthen America’s hand in dealing with North Korea, as well as Iran, and help maintain the reliability of America’s word and influence as a world leader,” they write. “Ditching it would serve no national security purpose.” The statement goes on to list 10 reasons for keeping the deal, which include strengthening of national and regional security, the enhancement of U.S. stature and leadership globally, and the opportunity to de-escalate rising tensions in the region.

Under the banner of the National Coalition to Prevent an Iranian Nuclear Weapon, signatories to the statement include former U.S. Ambassador and Rockefeller Brothers Fund Trustee Ryan Crocker and RBF President Stephen Heintz.

The prospects that the Trump Administration will restore sanctions against Iran, thus nullifying America’s role in the deal, “rose significantly in the past few weeks,” Rick Gladstone writes in the New York Times. “Mr. Trump’s new choices for secretary of state, the C.I.A. director Mike Pompeo, and for national security adviser, the former ambassador John R. Bolton, have both denounced the nuclear agreement.”