J Street welcomes a new letter, signed by a majority of the Senate Democratic Caucus, supporting the Biden administration’s commitment to urgently seek a mutual return by both the US and Iran to full compliance with the terms of the JCPOA nuclear agreement.

Led by Senators Tim Kaine and Chris Murphy, the 27 Senators who signed this letter to President Biden state that they “strongly support returning to the JCPOA and using a ‘compliance for compliance’ approach as a starting point to reset U.S. relations with Iran. Should Iran be willing to return to compliance with the limitations set by the JCPOA, the United States should be willing to rejoin the deal and provide the sanctions relief required under the agreement.” Like the administration, they also support building on a return to JCPOA compliance with subsequent diplomatic engagement to help extend key provisions of the agreement and address other concerning Iranian actions.

Following a similar December 2020 letter signed by 150 members of the House of Representatives, the new letter helps to demonstrate that efforts by JCPOA opponents and critics of diplomacy to muddy Democratic support for the Biden administration’s policy have failed. As tensions with Iran continue to grow in the wake of President Trump’s disastrous violation of the JCPOA and failed ‘maximum pressure’ approach, the Biden administration should be confident that it has the political and public support it needs to return to compliance with the terms of the original agreement, and to lift any sanctions that are inconsistent with such a return.

J Street is proud to help represent the 74% of American Jews who support this pragmatic, diplomacy-first approach. Securing an urgent return to the JCPOA increasingly appears to be the only way to reduce tensions, reimpose critical restraints on Iran, and prevent a dangerous slide toward escalation and armed conflict.