Historic Nuclear Deal Reached between P5+1 Countries and Iran

I want to thank President Obama for his persistent leadership to reach this historic deal. I am grateful to Secretary of State Kerry, Secretary of Energy Moniz, and all of our diplomats and other personnel who have worked to make this agreement a reality. I also want to acknowledge the hard work of our allies in the P5+1 who have been our partners in this effort.

I remain as committed as ever to ensuring that Iran never develops or obtains a nuclear weapon. I've received preliminary briefings on the terms of this deal and I look forward to studying the agreement in depth with other Members of Congress and the Obama Administration in the weeks to come. However, it appears that the deal has met our goal: creating a verifiable, enforceable agreement that closes off Iran's pathways to a nuclear weapon for decades to come.

Under the terms of the agreement, strict verification mechanisms will be put into place: the International Atomic Energy Agency will have surveillance capability along the entire supply chain of Iran's nuclear program to ensure compliance. Strong enforcement mechanisms will accompany the verification regimen - snapback provisions will ensure that Iran plays by the rules to maintain the sanctions relief they earn through compliance.

As the President has said all along, "no deal is better than a bad deal." However, it is also true that a good deal is better than no deal. It is clear that pursuing these negotiations was the best way to address the dangers that a nuclear Iran poses to the United States and our allies, especially Israel. I am glad that we insisted on giving diplomacy a chance. The alternatives to diplomacy risked tying the United States into another lengthy and costly conflict in the Middle East.

This agreement will not solve every problem -- and I stand with the President in his pledge to do even more to protect Israel's security and combat ISIS. But this deal will prevent Iran from posing the most serious problem -- a nuclear threat. Now that our negotiators have succeeded, I stand ready to make sure this agreement moves forward.

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