Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday broke with the position President Donald Trump has taken against the 2015 Iran nuclear deal during testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
Asked by Independent Maine Sen. Angus King whether the deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was beneficial to the US, Mattis answered affirmatively.
"Do you believe it's in our national security interests at the present time to remain in the JCPOA?" King asked, adding after a brief pause, "That's a yes-or-no question."
Mattis himself paused several seconds before answering, "Yes, senator, I do."
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The defense secretary later elaborated, saying he supported a "rigorous review."
"If we can confirm that Iran is living by the agreement, if we can determine that this is in our best interest, then clearly we should stay with it," Mattis said. "I believe at this point in time, absent indications to the contrary, it is something the president should consider staying with."
Trump's hostility toward the deal — signed in 2015 by Iran, the US, Russia, France, Germany, China, and the UK — is longstanding. During his presidential campaign, Trump tarred the agreement as a "bad deal" for the US and vowed to rip it up upon taking office.
Trump has twice recertified the deal since taking office, as he is required to do every 90 days to keep Congress from reimposing sanctions. But his administration has agreed to other sanctions on Tehran, and Trump's rhetoric has signaled he's getting closer to scrapping the deal outright.
He decision to recertify the deal a second time in mid-July only came "
In August, The Guardian reported that the Trump White House was pushing intelligence analysts to provide justification for declaring Iran in violation of the tenants of the deal. That pressure reportedly reminded some of the analysts involved of the run-up to the invasion of Iraq in 2003.