Pounding his fist on the dais and pleading with the audience, U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet defended his vote on President Obama’s nuclear accord with Iran on Saturday, saying the alternative is no deal at all.

Bennet, one of 42 Democrats who voted last week against a U.S. Senate resolution denouncing the accord to end Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for lifting economic sanctions against it, said it isn’t a perfect agreement, but that doesn’t mean a better one would result from rejecting it.

Bennet said he spent a lot of time studying the accord and meeting with White House officials, and came to the conclusion that the accord is the best way to prevent Iran from having a workable nuclear bomb within the next few months.

“I do believe there’s a principled argument that says that Iran is the biggest exporter of terrorism in the world, Iran is anti-Semitic, Iran has threatened the existence of Israel, Iran has threatened our existence, Iran has done nothing to earn the validation of its nuclear program, and I agree with all of that,” Bennet told about 400 people at Club 20’s annual fall meeting at Two Rivers Convention Center.

“But make no mistake. No deal doesn’t mean a better deal,” he added. “No deal means they get the benefit of sanctions relief ... and they’re going to be able to build a bomb in secret.”

Bennet said that back in 2003, Iran had 164 nuclear centrifuges, but no enriched uranium. By 2011, the Middle East nation had 19,000 centrifuges and enough uranium to manufacture 10 nuclear bombs.

As a result, they could have a functional bomb within the next three to four months, he said.

Bennet acknowledged that the accord “has flaws,” but it does give the rest of the world a better opportunity to know if, or when, Iran has gone ahead with its nuclear program. If that happens, the whole world will react, and the United States won’t have to go it alone in dealing with it, he said.

“We need to do everything we have to do, including a military option, to prevent Iran from having the bomb,” the senator said, pounding his fist on the podium. “There’s nothing about this deal that leads me to want to trust them. I don’t trust them. I believe they will cheat. When they cheat, I believe we will be in a much stronger position to use military force because we have chosen diplomacy and worked in a multi-lateral fashion.

“This deal doesn’t say we need to trust Iran. This deal doesn’t say we should take military force off the table. We shouldn’t,” he said to loud applause from the audience.

Bennet, who is running for re-election next year, also defended his votes on immigration reform, saying the nation missed an opportunity to secure the nation’s borders and help Colorado’s — and the nation’s — farmers and ranchers with the workers they need to operate.

Bennet said that effort, along with many others, fell apart because of partisan politics, calling on voters to stop listening to extremists.

“We have to stop making things up. We have to stop voting for the people who scream the loudest,” he said. “Please, please, please, do not accept the politics that don’t make sense to you, because it doesn’t make sense.”

This article was written by Charles Ashby for The Daily Sentinnel on Sept. 13, 2015