Montana lawmakers split on Iran nuke deal

All three members of Montana’s congressional delegation backed up their recent criticisms or support of the Iran nuclear deal with votes in both the House and Senate late last week.

The House of Representatives passed a resolution Friday denouncing the agreement struck by the U.S, China, France, Germany, Great Britain and Russia with Iran, which would relax some economic sanctions on the country, in exchange for allowing restrictions on its nuclear program. In the end, the resolution passed 269-162, winning the support of all but one Republican and 25 Democrats. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, voted present.

Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., has been a vocal critic of the agreement.

“Iran is not our friend. They are our enemy,” said Zinke, a former Navy SEAL commander and Iraq War veteran who is serving his first term in the House. “You cannot say that Hezbollah and Hamas, the surrogates of Iran, would not do the same on 9/11 as they did today in 2001.”

Zinke has long argued that the conditions for inspecting Iran’s nuclear facilities are too lax and that Iran's history of supporting terrorist organizations and acts, including attacks on U.S troops during the occupation of Iraq, make it untrustworthy in upholding its end of the agreement.

And although the pact itself keeps in place a prohibition on Iran getting missiles, Zinke warned when that ban expires, in eight years, sanctions on missiles will be eased, and Iran will be able to resume its ballistic missile program.

The vote in the House came after 42 Democrats were able to sustain a filibuster that kept a similar resolution from coming up for a vote in the Senate. In the end, opponents of the deal failed 58-42 to muster the 60 votes needed to break the filibuster.

Montana's Democratic Sen. Jon Tester was among the 42 Democrats who kept the resolution from coming to the floor. In August, Tester threw his support behind the agreement.

His stance is an increasingly tough sell, with a recent Pew Research Poll showing only 21 percent of respondents approve of the deal, while 49 percent oppose. Deal critics have also invoked a Moore Information Poll that shows 60 percent of Montanans oppose the deal.

Tester acknowledges Iran “has not been a good actor” on the international stage, but in the end he said it is the best way to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon without going to war.

“The deal has the support of our international allies, who we need in order to hold Iran accountable,” Tester said during a conference call with media in the lead-up to last week's Senate vote.

Tester points to the fact that the agreement increases the breakout time or period that Iran would need to produce a nuclear weapon from two or three months to a year. He also touts provisions that require Iran to reduce its number of centrifuges by two-thirds, from 19,000 now to 6,104 and keep its levels of uranium below that needed to produce a nuclear weapon. The deal would also mandate that Iran destroy 98 percent of its supply of low enriched uranium and allow an international inspections regime in Iran for the next 25 years.

“There is no better deal“ said Tester. “This is it. We need to give diplomacy a chance to work.”

Tester's colleague in the Senate though Republican Steve Daines, disagrees. In a speech on the Senate floor, Daines said the deal is “stacked against transparency” and under the current agreement Iran could still acquire a nuclear weapon.

“If Iran's ultimate goal is to obtain a nuclear weapon, the deal reached by the Obama administration sets Iran on a course to do so,” said Daines.

Instead, Daines said the U.S should toughen rather then relax sanctions on Iran including penalizing U.S companies that do business with the Iranian regime, in order to bring Iran back to the negotiating table.

But Tester said the international community is satisfied with the deal and eager to lift sanctions, citing a UK Trade delegation mad to Iran in August where the British Foreign Secretary talked about, once again, allowing British firms to do business in Iran as an example.

“There is nobody to go back to at the table, quite frankly,” said Tester.

Either way, the recent votes may not be the end of the debate over the deal. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has indicated that he will try once again to bring the resolution of disapproval to the floor this week, and hopes public pressure will win over more Democrats to oppose the deal.

McConnell is expected to try to bring it to a vote this afternoon.