WASHINGTON –U.S. Senator John Boozman (R-AR) released the following statement today after the announcement of the final agreement with Iran over the country’s nuclear program.

“When these discussions began, President Obama claimed we would be able to diplomatically dismantle Iran’s nuclear program. Initial reports on the details of the final agreement suggest this is far from the case. Leak after leak over the final weeks indicated that the President and his negotiating partners were willing—eager even—to give into every demand made by the world’s largest state sponsor of terrorism. The goalposts have moved from dismantling Iran’s clandestine nuclear weapons program to containing it.

The President claims that this agreement is built on verification, but that appears to be exactly where this deal is lacking any punch. It was hard enough to get the international community to commit to sanctions in the first place. With a reprieve of this nature, we will never be able to reestablish them should Iran not live up to their end of this agreement, which is a strong possibility given the Iranian regime’s duplicitous actions in the past.

As a result of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act of 2015, the President will not be able to unilaterally waive or suspend congressionally mandated sanctions on Iran before Congress has the chance to approve or disapprove of a final agreement. This gives my colleagues and me time to scrutinize each and every line of the deal. This agreement is likely to have a difficult time living up to that scrutiny.

We have a responsibility to ensure that Iran never achieves its goal of becoming a nuclear power. This deal gives us little confidence that we will be successful in this regard.”