Senator Chris Murphy

That sounds like a pretty horrific exercise in fiscal malpractice.

I think this conflict accrues to the benefit of both Russia and China.

For Russia, these high oil prices and the easing of sanctions on Russia, it just fills the Russian treasury.

For China, I think there's a longer-term play here.

For China, they don't really mind that that strait stays closed as long as Chinese ships and Chinese energy move through the strait.

And so there's a pretty simple deal for the Chinese and the Iranians to do moving forward, which is that Iran will let Chinese ships and energy bound for China move through the strait, and then China will help

Iran rebuild its missile program and its drone program and probably broader destroyed infrastructure when the United States stops bombing.

That is just a reality that I think is very...

sort of hard to confront right now.

And it just, for me, makes me pine for the days in which the United States, China, and Russia were aligned on Iran policy.

I know like right now that's hard to imagine, but that's what existed when we signed the JCPOA.

That's the Iran nuclear deal.

That was an agreement not between the United States and Iran.

That was a deal between the United States, Europe, Russia,

Russia, China, and Iran.

We had the ability to basically build on the JCPOA with the United States, China, and Russia on the same side to confront Iran's other malevolent activity.

We gave that up, and now we are in a world where we ultimately may have to accept that there's a more deeply integrated access, especially between Iran and China, but also between Iran and Russia.

I mean, I don't know what they're looking for, but when they describe the deal they want, it sounds a lot like the JCPOA.

I mean, one of the things they talk about is a firm commitment from the Iranians not to develop a nuclear weapon.

Well, that's exactly what the JCPOA said Iran in that agreement promised Iran.