Let's put an end to the Iranian nuclear program

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We cannot afford to have terrorists with nuclear capacity. And despite Iran’s new leadership, it is still a dangerous force in the Middle East. Given the instability in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon and the presence of an armed Hezbollah, it isn’t above Iran to use extremists to carry out extreme missions and utilize nuclear weapons.

Do we have a game plan if Iran doesn’t follow through? Military action, a strike to incapacitate its military, might be necessary to make sure it doesn’t go nuclear.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has compared Iran’s nuclear capabilities to Syria’s possession of chemical weapons, and said, “I think that we can draw serious conclusions from the resolution that the powers have reached on Syria’s nonconventional weapons. In the case of Syria, Russia and other powers quite justifiably insisted on the full disarmament of Syria.”

I agree with Netanyahu, and his strong stance should be a model for President Obama and Congress. Ending Iran’s nuclear program may be the only issue Democrats and Republicans in Washington agree on.

Kerry said he felt confident that the deal would prevent Iran from developing any nuclear weapons. Despite this, many Senate Democrats are still pushing for new sanctions. Keep in mind that any new sanctions would void the deal.

I urge our representatives to remain vigilant. We cannot afford to play games with a threat such as Iran and put our strongest allies at risk. When dealing with Iran and nuclear weapons, we must be absolutely positive that it will end production. The Iranians have never given us any reason to trust them, and now is not the time to give them leniency.

If our trust is broken, we are dealing with severe consequences. Six months is only temporary. Let’s keep working on a comprehensive solution to ensure that the threat of Iran’s developing nuclear weapons does not become a reality and that puts an end to Iran’s nuclear program once and for all.

Al D’Amato, a former U.S. senator from New York, is the founder of Park Strategies LLC, a public policy and business development firm. Comments about this column? ADAmato@liherald.com.

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