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Warren: 'Trump Provoked' Iran Crisis

Elizabeth Warren / Getty Images
June 18, 2019

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) tweeted Tuesday that President Donald Trump "provoked" the ongoing crisis with Iran and was possibly heading toward "another forever war."

The 2020 hopeful reacted to a New York Times report about Iran announcing it would violate the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal by stockpiling more low-enriched uranium than allowed under the pact. The Trump administration withdrew from the Obama-era agreement last year and has squeezed Tehran with sanctions, weakening the Iranian economy. Iran's gesture is an attempt to blackmail European nations into offsetting their impact.

In response to Iran's announcement, Trump deployed 1,000 more troops to the Middle East and declared the Islamic Republic will never build a nuclear weapon.

"I hope Iran chooses a different path," Warren tweeted. "But let's be clear: Trump provoked this crisis. He has no strategy to contain it, he's burned through our friends and allies, and now he's doubling down on military force. We can't afford another forever war."

Iran has denied U.S. charges that it attacked two oil tankers in the Gulf of Oman last week as relations between the two longtime enemies further sour.

Warren, like most of her Senate Democratic colleagues, supported the nuclear deal when it was inked by the Obama administration. When Trump withdrew from it last year, she released a statement that it "breaks our word, hurts our credibility with our allies, empowers Iranian hardliners, and doesn't make us any safer here at home."

Trump has been accused by nuclear deal supporters of girding for war with Iran, but he captured the Republican nomination in 2016 in part by expressing hesitance about interventionism. He did warn in a tweet last month that if Iran wants to fight, "that will be the official end of Iran. Never threaten the United States again!"

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