GOP lawmakers have introduced a barrage of legislation to prevent giving up sanctions for very little return.
As it becomes increasingly likely – despite US President Joe Biden’s administration’s assurances to the contrary – that America will rejoin the Iran Nuclear Deal, possibly offering Iran major concessions, Republican lawmakers have introduced a raft of legislation to act as a brake to re-entry.
“The eight pieces of legislation address issues including tightening sanctions enforcement, expressing disapproval of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), opposing easing sanctions on Iran and seeking to block the U.S. from reentering the JCPOA entirely,” according to the Jewish Insider (JI).
While some proposals have hardly gained any traction at all, others have received a more favorable response.
One Senate bill that seeks congressional oversight over sanctions reductions has gained 27 cosponsors. Another, which Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR.) introduced, opposes any form of sanctions relief that did not address both Iran’s nuclear program – which it insists is for peaceful, domestic purposes – and the recent attacks on a US base inside Iraq, by an Iranian-backed Shi’ite proxies. This bill has garnered 31 cosponsors.
In the House, these two bills have 24 and 30 cosponsors respectively.
“The concern I’ve got is that the Biden administration wants to roll back our sanctions, just in exchange for reentering the deal. It took us a long time to get the sanctions in place. We’ve got pressure on Iran now that is like never before. And this is not the time to be backing off,” said Rep. Michael McCaul in an interview with JI.
Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Barr (R-KY) was concerned that if “the Biden administration was to jeopardize the national security of Israel, one of our greatest allies, they should go through Congress to do so.”
More broadly, the Republican lawmakers are concerned that the Biden administration was too easily giving up a considerable amount of leverage that has been built up over the last few years, particularly since former President Donald Trump withdrew from the nuclear agreement in 2018 and initiated biting sanctions in a maximum pressure campaign.
(i24 News).