Early Tuesday morning, Iran and six world powers announced a landmark agreement aimed at halting Iran’s nuclear capabilities in exchange for lifting international sanctions that have long crippled the country’s economy. The accord, which concluded a tense 18-day summit in Vienna, was met with praise by both U.S. officials and Iranian leaders as ushering in a new era of cooperation between the two historically at-odds nations.
Unsurprisingly, the accord was also met with a barrage of criticism from conservatives who had long opposed negotiating with Iran in the first place. They were specifically outraged by President Obama’s vow to veto any congressional legislation attempting to block the deal from being implemented. Upon learning that the negotiations had successfully concluded, GOP presidential hopeful and foreign policy hawk Sen. Lindsey Graham told Bloomberg‘s Josh Rogin the deal was “akin to declaring war” on Israel.
It didn’t take long for others to weigh in. Here is a sampling of the reactions from Republican presidential candidates below:
.@BarackObama‘s #Iran deal gives Iran’s nuclear weapons capability an American stamp of approval. – SW
— Scott Walker (@ScottWalker) July 14, 2015
The nuclear agreement with Iran is a dangerous, deeply flawed, and short sighted deal. My full statement: http://t.co/sSftOAkyAM
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) July 14, 2015
Pres Obama has consistently negotiated from a position of weakness, giving concessions to a regime that has American blood on its hands.
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) July 14, 2015
Shame on the Obama admin for agreeing to a deal that empowers an evil Iranian regime to carry out its threat to “wipe Israel off the map.”
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) July 14, 2015
Graham:”It’s incredibly dangerous for our national security & it’s akin to declaring war on Sunni Arabs & Israel” via http://t.co/DKdJEBkAbN
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) July 14, 2015
Iran has demonstrated bad behavior & we know they have been trying to cheat on this deal. https://t.co/fwQYuA1Eys #Carly2016
— Carly Fiorina (@CarlyFiorina) July 14, 2015
Conservative pundits also weighed in:
.@POTUS‘ “deal” will hand #Iran billions in aid while giving it time and space to produce a nuclear bomb http://t.co/VWA9CiD68z #IranDeal
— Speaker John Boehner (@SpeakerBoehner) July 14, 2015
The only thing we need to “verify” about #IranDeal is what Obama was thinking when he agreed to it. This deal is an absolute disaster.
— John Bolton (@AmbJohnBolton) July 14, 2015
Let us act so historians will say “July 14, 2105, was the bottom, the nadir, from which America went on to recover.” http://t.co/fTsXodHypZ
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) July 14, 2015
Congress now has 60 days to review the details of the agreement, and the intense rhetoric is likely to escalate.