Candidates hoping to represent New Hampshire in the U.S. Senate are criticizing the memorandum of understanding the Trump administration has reached with Iran to end the war there.
The opposition spans both political parties. Congressman Chris Pappas, the leading Democrat in the race, says any peace deal with Iran should come before Congress, and called the peace terms outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding, “pathetic.”
“This agreement provided no guarantees to prevent Iran from pursuing nuclear weapons, and in return rewards Iran with billions in unfrozen funds and sanctions relief while leaving future control of the Strait of Hormuz uncertain,” Pappas said.
Karishma Manzur, Pappas’ opponent in the Democratic primary, said the country needs leaders committed to fighting “the nightmare of Trump’s incompetence and arrogance.” Manzur added that the war with Iran is fresh proof that Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu need to be held to account.
“Trump and Netanyahu are war criminals terrorizing the people of Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, and the greater Middle East – 15 U.S. service members have died, hundreds have been injured, and it has cost Americans hundreds of billions of dollars,” Manzur said.
Republican John E. Sununu, meanwhile, said reopening the Strait of Hormuz is critical, and said he opposes the deal’s apparent commitment of $300 billion in U.S. reconstruction aid for Iran.
“I don’t think the U.S. should provide any money for reconstruction,” Sununu told WMUR. “That’s not right, that’s not fair to American taxpayers.”
Sununu added that negotiations evolve over time, “But the strategic objectives, the national security objectives should not change: no nuclear weapons for Iran, verifiable inspection regime, and make sure they don’t reconstitute their ballistic missile program.”
Republican Scott Brown said he appreciated Trump wanting to find a peace deal, “But we had our foot on their throats and he kind of lightened up. I think if we had continued on we probably would have had a regime change,” Brown told NH Journal, adding that he, too, had concerns about billions that would flow to Iran under the deal.
“It’s not going to build hospitals and schools and houses with white picket fences, it’s going to be used to restock their supplies and basically continue on with their terrorism,” Brown said.
