WASHINGTON -- U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez was one of only four Democrats to oppose Barack Obama's nuclear deal with Iran. U.S. Sen. Cory Booker joined most other Senate Democrats in supporting it.
Still, President Donald Trump's decision to withdraw from the deal drew the ire of both New Jersey Democratic senators.
"With this decision, President Trump is risking U.S. national security, recklessly upending foundational partnerships with key U.S. allies in Europe and gambling with Israel's security," said Menendez, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
He said Trump's decision "makes it more likely Iran will restart its nuclear weapons program in the future."
Booker, who also sits Foreign Relations, expressed similar concerns.
"The president's announcement is nothing less than an abdication of American leadership that jeopardizes our national security, makes the world less safe, and increases the prospect of Iran developing a nuclear weapon," he said.
Booker's decision to support the agreement, which relaxed economic sanctions in exchange for curbs on Iran's nuclear program, came after he was urged to oppose the deal by the pro-Israel community and by Gov. Chris Christie.
He said at the time that some deal was better than no deal.
"Make no mistake, I had concerns about the Iran nuclear agreement when I voted on it, but an imperfect deal with years remaining to conduct further diplomacy was and remains better than a nuclear-armed Iran," Booker said.
Menendez needed no convincing to oppose the deal, but agreed with Booker that the U.S. was better off with a flawed agreement that could be tightened down the road.
He called on Trump to immediately send his national security team to Capitol Hill to explain how the U.S. will prevent Iran from building nuclear weapons on its own, and how he will impose sanctions when the other parties to the nuclear deal will not join him.
"It is a grave mistake to walk away from this deal without a plan for ensuring that Iran does not restart its nuclear weapon program, without a strategy for countering Iran's dangerous non-nuclear activities, and without our allies and partners," Menendez said.
Jonathan D. Salant may be reached at jsalant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @JDSalant or on Facebook. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.