J Street welcomes Trump deal with Iran

The dovish American Middle East lobby J Street welcomes the MOU announced yesterday by the US and Iran, while noting that the war it ended didn’t accomplish any of the goals laid out by US President Donald Trump at the onset.

“While the details of the agreement are still unclear, bringing this devastating conflict to a close will save lives, reduce the risk of further regional escalation and ease the severe economic harm this war has inflicted on people across the world,” J Street says in a statement.

“At the same time, it is important to acknowledge a basic reality: This costly and illegal war achieved none of the sweeping objectives that were repeatedly invoked to justify it. The Iranian regime remains in power. Iran’s nuclear material remains in Iran. Iran retains significant military capabilities. And Tehran now has significantly more leverage in the region and with the international community than it did before President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu chose to launch this conflict,” the statement adds.

“The lesson is the same one many experts and former security officials have warned about for years: There is no sustainable military solution to the challenge posed by Iran’s nuclear program. Durable constraints on Iran’s nuclear activities can only be achieved through pragmatic and sustained diplomacy,” J Street claims, arguing that Trump should have kept in place the nuclear agreement former US president Barack Obama inked with Iran in 2015, rather than pull out of that deal only to negotiate what critics say will end up being a similar one, even after this year’s war.