(Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris said that the U.S. would rejoin the Iran nuclear agreement if she were elected president.
“I would also look toward expanding it,” Harris told Lawrence O’Donnell on “The Last Word” program on MSNBC. “To be honest with you, I would like to see it also cover ballistic missile testing.”
The U.S. has accused the Tehran government of intensifying its efforts to develop ballistic missile technology in defiance of a United Nations resolution and earlier this month asked the UN Security Council to take action.
French President Emmanuel Macron has advocated for the nuclear accord to be broadened to curb Iranian behavior Western countries consider hostile, including its development of ballistic missiles.
Harris, California’s junior senator, said President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 pact “was not only not smart, because so far it was working, but it was also unilateral action, not bringing along and apparently not consulting our allies around the globe who are also invested in the right outcome.”
Harris said Trump “does not appreciate his power” as president. “It is about his ego. And it is not about what is in the best interest of our nation, and, frankly, our national security.”
Once the U.S. has a new president, Harris said, the country would have to re-establish relationships “with probably everyone around the globe” as Trump “has put us in a position where our neighbors around the world, be they friend or foe, are believing they cannot trust the word of the American president.”
Harris spoke as the contest for the Democratic nomination enters a new phase. In Miami next week, 20 candidates will be taking part in the first presidential primary debates of the 2020 election.
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