It's a lousy deal. And it's not just Reps who have sincere, legitimate doubts about it.
Bad deal vs. war? Nonsense. Keep the sanctions in place, even increase them. The
only hope for preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and the ability to use them to threaten the US is regime change. This deal certainly doesn't do it. It releases $100+billion to the mullahs
on the front end. Asked about that money being spent arming Hezbollah, arming Bashr al-Assad, etc., the President said
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I think it is a mistake to — to characterize our belief that they will just spend it on daycare centers and — and — and roads and — and paying down debt. We think that they have to do some of that, because Rouhani was elected specifically on the premise of improving the economic situation inside of Iran. That economy has tanked since we imposed sanctions.
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which is why we should keep them in place. Perhaps the State Department's time might have been better spent working with allies to maintain sanctions, rather than working with Iran to end them. Instead, Iran's access to these funds enable it to grow stronger, support Hezbollah and wreak more havoc in the region. For what, exactly? Any time, any place verifications, which just three months ago were a non-negotiable part of the deal? No, and now the Administration denies that they ever were part of the deal. Once Iran has this money, it can't be recalled, no matter how Iran cheats on the deal. And once the sanctions relief is deemed sufficient for the mullahs to stay in power, they can simply walk away from the agreement.
Perhaps this is why Reps and many Dems have expressed skepticism about the deal.