The United States would benefit from remaining part of an international agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, U.S. Secretary of Defense James Mattis said in congressional testimony on Tuesday.
However, the top Pentagon official warned the U.S. might walk away from the accord anyway.
President Donald Trump has roundly criticized the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was finalized by an international coalition in the final years of the Barack Obama administration. In a Sept. 10 speech before the U.N. General Assembly, Trump called the pact “one of the worst and most one-sided transactions the United States has ever entered into.”
Whether Mattis shares his boss’ opinion or not, the top Pentagon official thinks the agreement is good for U.S. national security.
“Do you believe it’s in our national security interest at the present time to remain in the JCPOA?” Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) asked Mattis in a Tuesday hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee in Washington.
“Yes, Senator, I do,” Mattis said after a long pause.
Mattis spoke to lawmakers fewer than two weeks before a legal deadline for the Trump administration to certify Iran is meeting its obligations under the pact. The defense secretary said the White House is considering whether it can treat participation in the JCPOA separately from its legal duty to certify to Congress that Iran is complying with its obligations under the agreement.
“They’re two different pieces,” Mattis said Tuesday. “And that is under consideration right now about how we deal both the legal requirement from the Congress as well as the international agreement.”
As for Iran’s compliance with the JCPOA, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Joseph Dunford, who testified alongside Mattis, repeated Tuesday that as far as he knows, “Iran is not in material breach of the agreement. And I do believe the agreement to date has delayed the development of a nuclear capability by Iran.”
Dunford said essentially the same thing last week during a confirmation hearing to serve a second term as Joint Chiefs chairman.
Mattis on Tuesday said the administration is “very alert to any cheating” on Iran’s part.
