WASHINGTON — When Barack Obama was in the White House, U.S. Sen. Cory Gardner was blunt in his opposition to a nuclear deal with Iran — calling it a “” when the terms were implemented at the beginning of last year.
But now Gardner won’t say whether it would be the right move if President Donald Trump decides to take a step back from the international accord. Nor would the Colorado Republican provide a clear answer on whether he thinks Congress should again slap sanctions on Iran if Trump doesn’tcertify the deal before an .
“I think there (are) a lot of pieces that have to be answered before I can affirmatively say that — including whether the president makes the request for those sanctions to be reissued,” Gardner said in a phone interview with The Denver Post.
The first-term senator is a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and hishesitancy comes at a critical juncture for the Iran deal, known officially as the .
Every 90 days the president must affirm that Iran is living up to the terms of the deal and — after doing so twice already — the Trump administration it would not agree a third time on Oct. 15.
By itself, decertification wouldn’t kill the 2015 accord, though it would send a strong signal about U.S. intentions to Iran, Russia and several other countries that hammered out the arrangement.
For the U.S. to truly abandon the deal, it would have to reimpose strict economic sanctions on Iran that Washington agreed to loosen two years ago in exchange for Tehran cutting its capacity to produce nuclear material.
Were Trump to decertify the deal, Congress would get a 60-day window to snap sanctions back into place — though there are doubts about whether it would do so.
Several influential Republican lawmakers have either or expressed support for the deal. Among them: House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, R-Calif., who that “I think we should enforce the hell out of the agreement and thereby force compliance on the part of Iran.”
In late August, international inspectors confirmed Iran and several Trump administration officials , including Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
But Trump has argued Iran has not adhered to the “spirit” of the deal — a viewpoint shared by Gardner.
“It is clear to me that they have no desire to comply (with) or uphold the spirit of the agreement. That can be seen in their continued support of state-sponsored terrorism throughout the Middle East and around the globe,” Gardner said. “It can be seen in their continued aspirations to develop a ballistic missile capability.”
Even so, he would not commit to an opinion on what Trump should do.
“I want to see what the president bases his decision on,” Gardner said.