Senator Says It Is Wrong Time To Negotiate New Iran Deal
Republican Senator Joni Ernst says now is the wrong time to be negotiating a new Iran deal as Russia continues its lawless invasion of Ukraine and US adversaries are emboldened.
Republican Senator Joni Ernst says now is the wrong time to be negotiating a new Iran deal as Russia continues its lawless invasion of Ukraine and US adversaries are emboldened.
The Iowa senator made the comment in a twitter post on Thursday and shared a letter by a group of 46 US retired generals and admirals urging President Joe Biden and Congress to reject the new nuclear deal currently being negotiated with Iran.
In an open letter published on Wednesday, they said this “dangerous” agreement is “poised to instantly fuel explosive Iranian aggression and pave Iran’s path to become a nuclear power, threatening the American homeland and the very existence of America’s regional allies.”
Also on Thursday, Congressman Josh Gottheimer called on the administration not to make concessions to Iran to revive the nuclear deal, noting, “We must not cave to demands from Iran — the world’s leading state-sponsor of terror. It's time to stand strong against terrorists and protect American values and our allies.”
The New Jersey representative also warned against removing Iran’s Revolutionary Guard from the US list of foreign terrorist organizations and depending on Russia to handle the nuclear negotiations.
“We cannot lift the FTO designation from the IRGC, remove non-nuclear sanctions on Iran, or let Russia hijack the negotiations”, he tweeted.
Reports said on Thursday that conservative group America First Legal Foundation has notified the White House that it "intends to take legal action to block any Biden-Iran deal that is not submitted to Congress" for approval.
"We are united in our resolve against threats and provocations, and we will work with partners and allies around the world and in the region to deter and to respond to any attacks that may be carried out by Iran," State Department Spokesman Ned Price said at his briefing Wednesday.
The comment was made in response to a question on an IRGC commander's remarks Tuesday who said Wednesday that the killing of all American leaders would not be enough to avenge the US assassination of Qods Force commander, Ghasem Soleimani in January 2020.
Brigadier General Mohammad Pakpour, commander of IRGC's Ground Forces, made the remark after a visit to Soleimani's grave in Kerman. "Therefore, we must avenge him by other methods," Pakpour said.
"Also, there were shattering responses to the moves of the Zionist regime and the US in the region," he added, reminding that the IRGC had fired missiles at US bases in Iraq a few days after the assassination.
Price argued that most of the Biden administration's sanctions on Iran were imposed on the IRGC. "We are committed to seeing to it, using every appropriate tool, that we respond to, that we deter, the malicious activity that the IRGC engages in."
State Department's Deputy Spokesperson Jalina Porter also said at the briefing that out of the 107 designations made by the Biden administration in relation to Iran, 86 specifically targeted the IRGC-related persons as well as affiliates. She also told reporters that Biden shares the view of General Milley that "the IRGC's Qods Forces are terrorists" but declined to comment on any of the topics in the nuclear talks.
President Joe Biden’s administration, while committed to restoring the JCPOA, has been hesitating in delisting the Guards, that are not just a military organization but also an internal security force and a business conglomerate.
Mohammad Marandi, the Iranian negotiation team's media adviser, told Fars news agency Thursday that it was pressure from Biden's opponents at home and Israel's supporters that caused "Americans' change of behavior" and the slowing of the progress of the talks.
"Eventually this had led to the Biden administration's loss of courage to achieve a deal … The halt in the talks is more detrimental to the US than to Iran," he added.
Republicans in the US have strongly opposed the administration's consideration of removing Foreign Terrorist Organization designation from Iran's Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) whereas Tehran insists that without that there will not be a deal.
"The removal would betray our allies in the region including Israel," said conservative Republican Senator Bill Hagerty in a tweet Wednesday. In a letter to Biden Monday, Hagerty and several other Republican senators called such a step "wildly misguided" and said the IRGC is "actively trying to kill US politicians and public servants on UA soil."
Talks that began between the new administration of President Ebrahim Raisi on November 29 were halted over a month ago after negotiators reached a deadlock over Iran's demand for delisting of the IRGC.
At a meeting with heads of the three branches of government and some other current and former senior officials on Tuesday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei who closely supervises the talks described the progress of the talks as "good", but this was later changed into "the country's diplomacy is moving in a good direction" on all his social media accounts and website as well as most media outlets.
