As negotiators work to hammer out a comprehensive agreement on Iran’s nuclear program this summer, Congress must avoid actions or demands that jeopardize reaching a deal that prevents Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

A nuclear-armed Iran would pose a significant threat to American, Israeli and global security. Successful diplomacy is the best way to guarantee that Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. That is why it is critical to ensure that diplomacy is given a chance to succeed.

Accordingly, Congress should refrain from taking steps—such as legislating new sanctions or seeking to impose unworkable conditions on a final deal with Iran— that risks fracturing our international coalition, undermining US credibility in negotiations, or jeopardizing hard-won progress toward a verifiable final agreement.

Congress should also be prepared to support an agreement that meets the essential goal of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and which significantly lengthens the amount of time Iran would need to produce fissile material for a bomb, even if it does not completely dismantle all of Iran’s nuclear facilities. A comprehensive deal which verifiably ensures a non-nuclear-armed Iran will likely allow Iran to retain some uranium enrichment capacity for civilian purposes—albeit subject to unprecedentedly intrusive monitoring which guarantees that Iran cannot engage in impermissible activities without early and certain detection.

Moreover, Congress should refrain from saber-rattling with regard to Iran, given that military action against its nuclear program would only delay and not eliminate the Iranian program and would have unpredictable costs and consequences for the United States, our allies and the people in the region.