Sen. Tom Cotton | Facebook
Sen. Tom Cotton | Facebook
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Arkansas) lead a group of 15 GOP senators who wrote a letter to major businesses and financial organizations telling them not to interact with Iranian businesses if the Biden administration removes sanctions to bring to life the 2015 nuclear deal of Iran.
The letter was sent to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Financial Services Forum and Business Roundtable and some of the members who signed the letter include Sens. Tom Cotton, Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and Marsha Blackburn.
"It would be a grave mistake for businesses to reengage Iran. Any new deal or sanctions relief from the Biden administration will be fleeting," Cotton wrote in a Facebook post on May 12.
The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is denounced in the letter, a plan that President Barack Obama negotiated with Iran and other world superpowers in 2015.
The letter read: “Your member companies may see this potential removal of U.S. sanctions on Iran as a lucrative opportunity. Trust us, they should not. If U.S. sanctions on Iran were temporarily lifted and these firms decided to reenter the Iranian market, not only would they be engaging with a corrupt and capricious regime, they would be investing in ventures doomed to fail. These firms would also risk exposure to individuals and companies that are intertwined with the malign activities of the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism. So long as the Islamic Republic of Iran continues its outlaw behavior, we will support robust sanctions against the regime.”
The senators also said any attempt by the Biden administration to broker a JCPOA-like deal or offer sanctions relief to the Iranian regime will be fleeting.
"The original Iran deal was never submitted to the United States Senate and ratified as a legally binding treaty. Any agreement that does not receive the broad and bipartisan support of Congress will not survive if a Republican is elected president in 2024. Any sanctions relief will also be severely limited if Republicans win back majorities in Congress in 2022. The U.S. Congress has passed several laws sanctioning the Iranian regime over the past decade, at times rolling over executive-branch opposition with huge bipartisan majorities. Put simply, any new Iran deal that does not address Iran’s nuclear program, ballistic and cruise missile development, support for terrorism, hostage-taking, gross human rights violations, and other malign behaviors will not receive durable, bipartisan support in the United States,” the senators continued.
To read the full letter, click here.
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