Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday he wasn't "a fan" of the Iran nuclear deal, but he also doesn't think it makes sense at this point to relieve Iran of its obligations mandated in the agreement.
"I thought that the agreement in 2015 should have included some prohibitions and some addressing of Iran's activity in the region and ballistic missiles, but it didn't," the Arizona Republican told MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
"They have realized the benefits, which were largely front-loaded in terms of the release of frozen assets and sanctions relief."
With Trump's action on Tuesday, however, "we're relieving them of their obligations if they choose to do so to abide by the nuclear side of the agreement," said Flake.
It also remains to be seen if Germany, France, or other allies that continue to do business with Iran could face penalties, said Flake.
"We've seen with the tariffs, we have tariffs imposed and then the president just in a position to give waivers or exemptions, and that seems to be the way we want to play ball now," said Flake. "It's just far from the kind of rules-based international order that we helped establish with multilateral institutions and organizations as arbiters of disagreement rather than just one country acting out ad hoc on its own."
He added that it would be fair to ask Trump what his "plan B" is after canceling the United States' participation in the agreement.
"How do we address those other activities that Iran is involved in that need to be addressed and still make sure they hold to their agreements on the nuclear side?" the senator said. "With our unilateral withdrawal, I just don't see how that's going to happen. I'm very worried, particularly going forward now with negotiations with North Korea, how does that make the situation better or it more likely that North Korea will enter into agreements with us knowing that at the drop of a hat we could get out of those agreements?"
Flake did applaud the news that three prisoners had been released from North Korea, and said it has to be a good sign about the country's willingness to negotiate with the United States.
"There have been meetings obviously with the South Koreans, additional meetings with the Chinese, and then the meeting [with Trump," said Flake. "I guess the time and date has been set for the meeting with the U.S. I hope that we're doing the necessary prep work before the meeting happens, but it's only good news, I think, to see Americans freed."
However, he said he expects the negotiations between the United States and North Korea to be difficult.
"North Korea is in a different place than Iran is," said Flake. "They have some nuclear weapons capability that Iran hadn't demonstrated yet, and so we're looking for them not just to freeze, but to denuclearize."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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