APN warmly welcomes implementation of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) and congratulates the Obama Administration and its international partners on this historic achievement. The JCPOA has already succeeded in dramatically rolling back Iran’s nuclear program and will stringently limit this program going forward, in order to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear program in the future. In doing so, the JCPOA is a clear win for the American people, for U.S. leadership, for U.S. national security and, we believe, for Israel. It is for these reasons that APN and our supporters across the U.S. for years worked in support of a diplomatic solution to the challenge of Iran.

Implementation of the JCPOA is proof that determined diplomacy, resolute leadership, and sustained, multilateral engagement can overcome and resolve even the toughest challenges in the international arena. Other recent Iran-related developments – most notably the quick release of U.S. naval personnel detained in Iranian waters and the release of a number of U.S. citizens held by Iran – offer reason to hope that the U.S. and the world may be entering a new era of more constructive relations with Iran, for the benefit of U.S. interests and goals in the region and around the world.  

APN once again urges opponents of the JCPOA – in Congress, the Israeli government, and organizations like AIPAC – to stand down from their efforts to undermine the deal. Clearly, Congress can and should play an important oversight role with respect to implementation of the JCPOA, as well as with respect to other U.S. policy issues related to Iran, including Iran’s support for terrorism, the threat it may pose to Israel, and issues like human rights and democracy in Iran. However, efforts to exploit these concerns to torpedo the JCPOA post-facto and prevent the potential emergence of a new, more constructive interface with Iran, must be rejected.