The GOP's top 2016 candidates really hate the Iran nuclear deal

Scott Walker and Obama
(Image credit: Saul Loeb AFP / Getty Images)

If a Republican wins the White House in 2016, the landmark Iran nuclear deal that was announced Tuesday morning might be short lived. In months leading up to the deal, Republicans including Marco Rubio, Scott Walker, Jeb Bush, and Ted Cruz condemned the agreement and threatened to roll it back as soon as they took office. The deal reached Tuesday morning by the United States, Iran, and five other world powers limits Iran's nuclear program in exchange for the reduction of sanctions.

Many Republicans believe it would be a huge mistake to roll back sanctions on Iran. "This issue of them asking for immediate relief of sanctions the minute the deal is signed is going to be a deal breaker," Rubio told NPR in April, adding that Iran is clearly "trying to maintain all infrastructure they need to be nuclear capable without agreeing to any irreversible concessions." Bush expressed similar concerns in a March op-ed for National Review, writing that with this "horrific deal" "you're likely to have an emboldened Iran, not a humble Iran, and you're likely to have our strongest ally in the region be threatened."

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