'Troubling': Republicans demand answers from Kerry on Iran

A group of 31 Republican senators sent Secretary of State John Kerry a letter Friday expressing grave concern over "troubling nuclear concessions to Iran."

“Given that a nuclear Iran poses the greatest long-term threat to the security of the United States, Israel, and other allies, we are gravely concerned about the possibility of any new agreement that, in return for further relief of U.S.-led international sanctions, would allow Iran to produce explosive nuclear material,” said the letter, which was first reported Saturday by the Daily Beast.

The group's concern stems from reports that the administration is considering allowing Iranian nuclear centrifuges to be "disconnected" instead of "dismantled." This news came from a New York Times report Saturday that the administration has been consulting with the Energy Department for alternative negotiating ideas.
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Iran currently has about 20,000 centrifuges, while the U.S. would prefer it have fewer than 1,000.

Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., told the Daily Beast, “Wendy Sherman and her team are desperate, floating these ‘creative solutions’ to hide the fact that they haven’t gotten Iran to agree to a single irreversible step to eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons capability."

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, said last week that he views a nuclear Iran as a more significant threat to U.S. national security than the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.

“Everything President Obama and Hillary Clinton and John Kerry have done have increased the chances of Iran acquiring nuclear weapon capability," he told the Washington Free Beacon.

While Iranian President Hassan Rouhani will be at the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York City next week, White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said Monday that Rouhani was not on Obama's "dance card."

WashingtonExaminer.com