Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) said he would back a “bad deal” to conclude the Iran war, which he believes President Donald Trump “has lost.”
The senator’s statement comes as Trump seeks an endgame to the war with Iran by trying to formulate an agreement that would fully reopen the Strait of Hormuz, thereby bringing oil and gas prices back down.
However, Iran is coming to the negotiating table with its own list of demands.
“I am prepared to support a bad deal to end this war and reopen the strait because the only deal that is available at this point in time is a terrible, bad deal,” Murphy said on NBC News’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
“But the war needs to end because every day that the war continues, America gets weaker, Iran gets stronger, and people here in the United States get screwed as prices go up and up and up,” he added.
In his list of demands, Iranian National Security Council Secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr demanded that the United States refrain from threatening Iran; end hostilities with Iran, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq; terminate its naval blockade and remove all military forces around Iran; pay damages for the war and lift sanctions on the regime; and unfreeze Iranian assets.
The demands threaten to derail the negotiations between Iran and Oman to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Zolghadr is now hinging Iran’s agreement with Oman over the strait on the U.S. response to its demands.
On Friday, Trump said he is personally involved in the peace talks over the strait and was optimistic about a deal being signed soon.
Meanwhile, Murphy is alarmed by what Iran stands to benefit from an end to the war.
“The price to reopen the strait increases by the day,” the Senate Democrat said. “The supposed deal that’s on the table right now would pay Iran $100 billion a year in order to reopen the strait. That is one-third of Iran’s entire economy. What a victory for Iran that at the end of this war, they get paid to reopen the strait. They get paid to rebuild their military. They get paid to rebuild their support for proxies in the region.”
IRAN THROWS WRENCH INTO HORMUZ DEAL WITH NEW LIST OF DEMANDS TO US
The U.S. opposes Iran’s proposed 7% shipping toll in the Strait of Hormuz that could result in Tehran generating about $136 billion annually.
Murphy is calling for a swift end to the war, even if the deal includes the shipping toll. The senator is much more concerned about the depletion of U.S. munitions stockpiles, which he will support funding in Congress once the war ends.