US Senator: Trump’s campaign against Iran 'catastrophic failure'

A US senator has vehemently denounced former US president Donald Trump’s policy of “maximum pressure” against Tehran, warning that the Iran hawks, who used to champion the wrong approach, are now trying to prevent his successor Joe Biden from opting out of it.

“Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign proved a catastrophic failure,” Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) tweeted on Monday.

Trump's "maximum pressure" campaign proved a catastrophic failure, but the Iran hawks are unrepentant. Now they want to dictate Biden's personnel choices, labeling those who support diplomacy as dangerous.The hawks have been wrong, over and over. Why listen to them now?

— Chris Murphy (@ChrisMurphyCT) January 25, 2021

Trump took the US out of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), a historic 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers. He also returned the sanctions that the deal had lifted.

Israel as well as anti-Iran American and regional officials reportedly played a major role in having the Trump administration take the unilateral measures that violated the JCPOA - a nuclear agreement ratified in the form of a United Nations Security Council resolution.

“The hawks' theory was if we pulled out of the nuclear deal and went back to sanctions and tough talk, Iran would come to the table…,” Murphy said.

He reminded how the hawkish US officials used to believe that not only would the pressure force Iran back to the negotiation table, but also the Islamic Republic would start discussing its missile program and regional influence as Washington desired.

The Islamic Republic reacted to the campaign led by the US and its allies by asserting that it would never renegotiate a “done deal.”

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has said that Iran would resist the "criminal" US sanctions and turn the maximum pressure into "maximum disgrace" for Washington.

Murphy said, “Trump tested the theory. Gave it 4 solid years. It didn't work. At all. And Iran restarted the shuttered parts of their nuclear program. Unmitigated disaster.”

“When Trump came into office, the JCPOA had aligned U.S./Britain/France/Germany/Russia/China vs. Iran,” he claimed, referring to the nuclear deal’s members.

“Trump and the Iran hawks managed to shift the JCPOA balance to U.S. vs. Iran/Britain/France/Germany/Russia/China. A total disaster,” he added.

The anti-Iran forces, Murphy said, are still “unrepentant,” and now trying to “dictate Biden's personnel choices, labeling those who support diplomacy as dangerous.”

They “want to tell Biden he can't hire people to work on the Iran brief who support diplomacy," he added.

“The hawks have been wrong, over and over. Why listen to them now?” he asked.

ME