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http://http//katv.com/news/local/cotton-boozman-hill-react-to-trump-ending-us-nuclear-deal-with-iran

LITTLE ROCK (KATV) — Arkansas Republican senators Tom Cotton and John Boozman, along with Republican Congressman French Hill, said Tuesday that they support President Donald Trump's decision to end the United States' nuclear deal with Iran.

The agreement, struck between the U.S. and its allies under former president Barack Obama in 2015, lifted most sanctions against Iran in exchange for restrictions on the country's nuclear program that were meant to make it impossible to manufacture a bomb. Iran also agreed to rigorous inspections under the deal.

Trump announced Tuesday that the U.S. will withdraw from the deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. He made the decision against the urging of U.S. allies, including England and France.

Cotton, who has been one of the most vocal opponents of the Iran accord, said in a statement that the agreement was "terribly flawed from the beginning" and "only delayed Iran from getting the bomb." He said the agreement gave Iran hundreds of billions of dollars in sanctions relief that the country used to support terrorism and build long-range missiles.

"Tough sanctions are a first step toward rolling back Iran’s campaign of terror, but it won't be the last," the statement continues. "If the ayatollahs rush toward the bomb, the United States must end the program once and for all. Finally, let me say in unmistakable language: it would be a grave miscalculation of historic magnitude by the ayatollahs if they choose to attack Israel.”

Boozman said in a statement that the agreement has "several major flaws, including the fact that Iran was not required to destroy a single centrifuge and that adequate verification measures were sorely lacking."

"Additionally," the statement says, "Iran continues to be an antagonist in an already volatile region, fighting and financing proxy wars against its own neighbors, U.S. partners and our allies."

Boozman said he believes the U.S. can continue working with other countries to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

Hill also said the deal was flawed. In a statement, he said the U.S. can work with its allies to find a new way to "end Iran's nuclear program and their ability to threaten their neighbors and the world."

"The final agreement did not protect the safety of U.S. citizens and it put our allies, including Israel, in grave danger," Hill said. "In the most simplistic terms, this deal was a delay in Iran's nuclear program in exchange for complete sanctions relief and beyond"