WASHINGTON (AP) – A House Democrat who represents an American hostage in Iran says he supports the Iran nuclear deal.
“It’s very clear to me that the agreement is the best path forward,” two-term Michigan Rep. Dan Kildee told The Associated Press in an interview. “This agreement allows us to prevent (Iran) from gaining a nuclear weapon, and if they cheat, we will know it. If we don’t have the agreement, we don’t have that certainty.”
American Amir Hekmati has been held in Iran since 2011. Kildee said he has told President Barack Obama and Hekmati’s relatives about his decision to back the international agreement, which calls on Iran to curb its nuclear program in exchange for billions of dollars in sanctions relief.
A former sergeant in the U.S. Marine Corps, Hekmati was visiting his ailing grandmother in 2011 when he was arrested on suspicion of spying. He was charged in January 2012 with espionage and sentenced to death. His family denies the charge. He is one of four Americans held by Iran.
Kildee’s support is a boost for Obama amid a week of furious lobbying on Capitol Hill, with members of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee urging lawmakers, chiefly Democrats, to oppose the accord. AIPAC, which is behind a multimillion-dollar ad campaign, argues that Iran cannot be trusted. Obama and his allies say there is no alternative to the deal other than to let Iran proceed unsupervised.