Ernst says she doesn’t trust Iran to comply with nuclear agreement

CEDAR RAPIDS - Sen. Joni Ernst is taking issue with President Barack Obama's assertion that the alternative to his negotiated nuclear agreement with Iran is war.

'I think that was a stretch on the president's part,” Ernst said during a conference call with Iowa reporters Thursday.

She was referring to Obama's statement that 'either the issue of Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon is resolved diplomatically through a negotiation, or it's resolved through force, through war.”

Ernst took a much harder line than the president, arguing that the agreement 'concedes too much to Iran and ultimately strengthens the pathway for Iran to achieve a nuclear weapon.”

In making her case, the Iowa Republican, who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, quoted Air Force General Paul Selva, who Obama nominated to be vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He told the committee this week that 'immediate lifting of sanctions … will give Iran access to more economic assets with which to sponsor state terrorism.”

The United States 'cannot concede to a deal that provides premature sanctions relief, especially when it is those very sanctions that have helped to curb Iranian support for terrorist activity,” Ernst said.

She doesn't trust Iran to comply with the agreement because it allows Iran to delay inspections for 24 days.

'I think Iran is going to continue to do what Iran has been doing for many years,” Ernst said, referring to its quarter-century effort to develop a nuclear weapon.

'What we were hoping through these discussions was to prevent Iran from continuing down this path. This does not do that,” Ernst said.

Ernst said she will continue her assessment of the agreement during the 60-day review period before Congress votes on it, but has 'serious reservations.”