Upon Congress’ return to Washington this week, its members’ plate will certainly be full of contentious topics. But none is any more critical than the Iran nuclear deal, otherwise known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

After reviewing many of the provisions of this international agreement, I’m not only concerned at the number of dangerous concessions the deal makes to Iran, but also the way it betrays our allies and gives aid to a sworn enemy of the United States and Israel.

The basic mechanism of the accord involves trading previously imposed sanctions for restrictions on Iran’s nuclear proliferation. And while there are a number of stipulations which could impede Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, the long-term problems are numerous.

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First, the restrictions on uranium enrichment are time-based and would expire at some point in the future, ultimately opening a door for Iran to continue building its nuclear program and possibly creating a Middle East nuclear arms race. Time will not change the fact that Iran is a staunch enemy of Israel and has vowed to destroy that country.

And Iran is clearly no friend of the United States. Incredibly, just one day after Obama appealed to Iranians in a video message to seize a “historic opportunity” for a nuclear deal and a better future, Iran’s Supreme leader Ali Khamenei called for “death to America”!

On top of reducing sanctions in return for Iran’s promise of “good behavior,” the U.S. along with five other members of the U.N. Security Council and the European Union commit to assist Iran in developing their energy assets, finance, technology and trade. Why help strengthen the infrastructure of one of the most evil regimes in the world?

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The deal allows Iran to maintain its own nuclear reactors as long as they don’t continue to grow their capacity to enrich the core material needed for a nuclear weapon. A monitoring and verification system conducted by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is planned to enforce Iran’s compliance, but the verification system is severely flawed.

Apparently, the agreement requires IAEA to give Iran 24 days before any facility inspection. What good is an announced inspection, regardless of the amount of time?

 And possibly the most alarming part of the Iran deal is a provision which could place the U.S. in a position of having to help defend Iran’s nuclear facilities from attacks from other nations, including Israel. A statute in one of the deal’s annexes states the U.S. and its partners will provide “Co-operation through training and workshops to strengthen Iran’s ability to protect against, and respond to nuclear security threats, including sabotage, as well as to enable effective and sustainable nuclear security and physical protection systems.”

While interpretation of this provision varies, the disintegrating relationship between Israel and the Obama administration gives one reason to worry.

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Simply put, any deal that allows Iran to become a nuclear power at any point is a poor one. The JCPOA is naive agreement based on trust that Iran has never earned.

Congress should shut this deal down.

Mark Caserta is a conservative blogger, a Cabell County resident and a regular contributor to The Herald-Dispatch editorial page.