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9 Apr, 8 tweets, 3 min read
I want a "longer and stronger" agreement with Iran, but the path to that agreement is through the Iran nuclear deal (the JCPOA).

1/ A short THREAD on why getting back into the JCPOA, as soon as possible, is the necessary predicate to gain other concessions from Iran.
2/ The MOST important thing is to make sure Iran doesn't get a nuclear weapon. This takes priority.

Yes, we want Iran to end support for proxies and their missile program. But all their other malevolent activity is much worse if they have a nuclear bomb.
homelandsecuritynewswire.com/dr20200421-ira…
3/ We had 4 years to try the approach of the JCPOA opponents. Trump leveled crippling sanctions on Iran to get them to negotiate on everything.

It was a disaster. Iran refused to talk, they restarted their nuclear program, and began firing at U.S. troops.
iiss.org/blogs/survival…
4/ Meanwhile, the alliance Obama had built (U.S/Europe/Russia/China vs. Iran) collapsed. Europe, China, and Russia helped Iran work around Trump's sanctions, and would not cooperate with us on constraining Iran's other destabilizing efforts.
wsj.com/articles/eu-ra…
5/ It is foolhardy to believe that Iran is now willing to sit down and negotiate a comprehensive agreement. And even if they were, they would want concessions from us, like a change to our defense relationship with Saudi Arabia/UAE.
6/ The best path to getting Iran to the table on non-nuclear issues is to reenter the JCPOA and re-cement the P5+1 alliance structure.

This means "compliance for compliance". Iran gets back into accord with the JCPOA and America releases the sanctions.
cnbc.com/2021/04/07/ira…
7/ Pres Biden shouldn't expect that a single opponent of the original agreement is going to support compliance for compliance.

Iran, the Gulf states, and congressional Republicans see these talks as a way to do what they couldn't in 2015 - kill any nuclear agreement with Iran.
8/ But the agreement was good for America, Israel, and the rest of the world. It was a sign that diplomacy can solve big problems.

And every day that the U.S. and Iran remain outside the deal, the world is less safe and diplomacy is devalued.
nti.org/about/iran-dea…

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More from @ChrisMurphyCT

Chris Murphy Profile picture
16 Mar
The biggest national security threats we face today - climate change, pandemic disease, China competition - can't be solved with military tools.

But today we spend 13x - THIRTEEN TIMES! - more on the military than on diplomacy/smart power.

1/ A quick THREAD🧵on how we fix this:
2/ I'm teaming up with @ChrisVanHollen, @davidcicilline & @RepBera to propose a $12 billion increase in funding for State and USAID directed towards three specific challenges - competing with China, preparing for the next pandemic, and fighting climate change.
3/ China is running circles around the US when it comes to deploying diplomats and development funding. And their state-sponsored propaganda arm is working nonstop to discredit free and open democracies. We can't continue to let them go unchallenged.
Read 8 tweets
Chris Murphy Profile picture
26 Feb
So this is actually big news. This week, two progressive Democrats and two conservative Republicans introduced a ban on non-compete agreements.

1/ Let me tell you why non-compete agreements are so terrible for our economy and why we should pass this bipartisan bill this year.
2/ Non-compete agreements prohibit you from leaving your company and working for a competitor. First, they stifle innovation, bc many would-be entrepreneurs are stopped from going out and working on any product that might end up competing with their prior employer.
3/ Second, non-competes depress wages, bc if you can't leave and work for any other company in your industry, then you have no leverage to ask for a higher salary. Non-competes impose a form of indentured service.
Read 6 tweets
Chris Murphy Profile picture
22 Feb
The Iran nuclear deal's original terms made the world a safer place. That's why restarting the agreement through "compliance for compliance", rather than trying to hold out for a new/different deal (as Trump, Iran hawks wanted) is the best path.

1/ A short THREAD explaining why:
2/ The Iran deal put the U.S./Europe/Russia/China all on the same side of Iran policy. Leaving the deal shattered that coalition.

We can't make progress on Iran's missile program or terrorist funding without this team regrouping, and a quick reentry to the JCPOA does this.
3/ Plus, so long as we continue Trump era sanctions, Iran will seek to destabilize the region, in Iran, Yemen, Syria, etc.

Neocons say we can't negotiate with Iran while they provoke, but that's their typical BS. We need de-escalation, and restarting the JCPOA does that.
Read 6 tweets
Chris Murphy Profile picture
17 Feb
1/ A quick thread of why traditional "summer school" may be a big mistake for exhausted, traumatized kids, and why we need to be thinking bigger about more emotionally and psychologically relevant programming for kids this summer.

Hear me out.
2/ We underestimate how hard the last 12 months have been on kids. As a parent of public school 3rd and 6th graders, I know. The disconnect from peers, challenges of distance learning, stop and start of in-school instruction, and general stress of COVID has drained kids.
3/ YES there's been learning loss. YES it's been worst for low income kids without regular digital access and kids with learning needs. YES we need to build new services around these kids to help them catch up.

But kids are exhausted, and MORE school this summer may not work.
Read 8 tweets
Chris Murphy Profile picture
25 Jan
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?
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 on not just nukes, but missiles, human rights, terrorism, etc.

Trump tested the theory. Gave it 4 solid years. It didn't work. At all.
No other nation joined our new sanctions. Instead, all our JCPOA partners developed work-arounds to keep the Iranian economy alive.

And Iran restarted the shuttered parts of their nuclear program and began shooting at U.S. soldiers in Iraq again.

Unmitigated disaster.
Read 4 tweets
Chris Murphy Profile picture
18 Jan
The internal security threat the U.S. faces right now is serious. We need a Secretary of Defense on the job immediately. I will vote to confirm Lloyd Austin and grant him a waiver, and I urge other Senators to do the same.
In 2017 I voted against granting a waiver for Jim Mattis. My constituents should rightfully ask, what’s different now?

First, the immediacy of the threat to our country requires DoD to have leadership in place without delay. But that’s not the only thing that’s changed.
A general at DoD was especially worrying under Trump. Trump had zero foreign policy experience, a penchant to glorify violence, a total neophyte Secretary of State, and an unstable, war mongering former general as NSA.
Read 6 tweets

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