A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
Let's hear from another voice in the Senate on the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran. Senator Tim Kaine is a Democrat from Virginia and a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Senator, as we've heard, no official text of the preliminary agreement, but the president said he would send it to Congress for approval. First off, what would have to be in this preliminary agreement for you to support it?
TIM KAINE: Well, A, look, an off-ramp to a war that was illegal and foolish to begin with is a good thing, so I like the fact that we're in an intermission and hopefully can end this illegal war. Here is what I know so far. I have not seen details of the memorandum. I've seen reporting on it in Bloomberg and other publications, and here are some things I notice. The agreement we had with Iran - the JCPOA that was negotiated by President Obama and his team - included a provision on Page 1 saying that Iran would never seek, develop or acquire any nuclear weapons. The reporting about this deal says that there's a provision that Iran will never produce nuclear weapons. That's not as comprehensive as seek, develop or acquire.
The reporting on this agreement suggests that all sanctions will be eliminated. The JCPOA only eliminated the sanctions against Iran pertaining to nuclear program but allowed the U.S. to continue to use sanctions against Iran for missile violations, for human rights violations, for interfering with foreign countries. And finally, the reporting on this deal suggests that not only will Iran have access to its own assets and sanctions relief, but there's also a guaranteed $300 billion investment fund to reconstruct Iran. So if the reporting is accurate, the U.S. is giving a lot more to get a lot less than we got in the deal we negotiated 10 years ago. And that's one of the...
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah.
KAINE: ...Reasons my colleagues and I have said this war was so foolish to begin with.
MARTÍNEZ: So my read from you is that it's going to be different but not in a good way.
KAINE: Different, but not in a good way. But anything that is an off-ramp to an illegal and foolish war is a good thing, and so I hope that the deal sticks and we can end this war.
MARTÍNEZ: Does the president even need Congress to approve this deal?
KAINE: That's a good question. At some point, he will because I authored, with Senator Bob Corker, a bill called the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act requiring any president that does a nuclear deal with Iran to submit it to Congress for review. Now, the question is, is the memorandum that will be apparently released Friday - if it just says, here's what we're going to do on the straits and on Iranian ports, and we'll keep talking about the nuclear program - if the nuclear details are not really agreed to, then perhaps this version wouldn't need to be presented to Congress. But any final agreement that actually deals with the Iranian nuclear program will have to be presented to Congress. And then any member of Congress who wants to could file a resolution of disapproval...
MARTÍNEZ: OK.
KAINE: ...And force a vote on the deal.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, Vice President Vance said that the U.S. military may need to get involved if Iran does not hold up its end of any agreement on nukes. So does Congress then play a role there?
KAINE: That's why we're continuing to press War Powers Resolutions, saying the U.S. should not be in hostilities against Iran absent a vote of Congress. We think that's constitutionally mandated. But we also think while we're in this intermission, it's time for Congress to do what it should have done before the war and say, look, we're in an intermission. Let's not restart the war and punish American families with higher gas costs and risk the lives of our troops absent congressional debate and approval. And that's why we're going to continue to offer War Powers Resolutions - to try to get Congress to do what it should have done before this war started.
MARTÍNEZ: Senator, one more - last thing, quickly. Iran wants Israel to pull out of Lebanon as part of this agreement. Israel's ambassador to the U.S. told this program yesterday that Israel will not withdraw its troops. So do you think the Trump administration can persuade Israel to leave or Iran to accept the deal regardless?
KAINE: That's a - that is a thorny question, and I don't have a prediction on that. I do think President Trump has significant leverage, and I hope that he will use it to get Israel to stand down so that this deal can go forward.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. That's United States Senator Tim Kaine. He's a Democrat from Virginia. Senator, thank you.
KAINE: You bet.
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