Chuck Schumer, Democratic Party majority leader in the United States Senate, has called on the Biden administration to address a range of issues, not just Iran’s nuclear program, during multilateral talks underway in Vienna since early April.

Addressing a Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of New York virtual event on May 6 reported in the Jewish Insider, Schumer reflected the nuanced position of some Democrats as President Joe Biden maneuvers to revive Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, the JCPOA.

Schumer opposed the JCPOA in 2015, signed by Iran and six world powers during the Obama presidency, but then rejected President Donald Trump’s decision to abandon the agreement, which Trump implemented in May 2018. Schumer told the JCRC Trump had “isolated the US, instead of Iran.”

Speaking from a restaurant in New York’s Times Square, Schumer argued Iran was now “closer to producing a nuclear weapon…than…the day Trump pulled out of the agreement or the day Obama signed the agreement.” He said he wanted a broader deal covering issues such as ‘terrorism,’ ballistic missiles, human rights and “hostage-taking.”

“I understand why the current administration is in negotiations and I don’t have any problem with them sitting down and talking, but I also believe… we have to follow through on all of these issues,” Schumer said. “It’s not that we shouldn’t sit down, because if we don’t sit down, Iran could just go forward and produce a nuclear weapon.”

Biden has said he wants to revive the JCPOA as a step towards further talks over regional security and defense. In December, before Biden took office in January, 150 Democratic members of the House of Representatives wrote to Biden calling for an early return to the JCPOA.

Opinion among Senate Democrats is more varied. Bob Menendez, the chair of the Foreign Relations Committee who opposed the 2015 deal, has led calls for Biden officials to be more specific as to how they seek to achieve the “longer stronger deal” envisaged by Secretary of State Antony Blinken during his confirmation hearings earlier this year.

Senator Tim Kaine has offered clear support for Biden’s approach. He told Politico this week it was “still the right answer…to try to get the Iranians compliant again with the nuclear deal” and then focus “on non-nuclear activities.”