Over half of the US House of Representatives have written to President Joe Biden urging coordination with allies on stricter measures to deter Iran in pursuit of its nuclear program.
In their letter released by the Jewish Insider on Monday, 249 lawmakers, including 133 Democrats and 116 Republicans, expressed concerns over the regime’s ability to enrich uranium to the weapons-grade level in a matter of days.
They cited a March report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) about particles of uranium enriched to the 83.7% level, just below the 90% level generally considered to be needed to produce nuclear weapons, and remarks by Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl about Iran being able to enrich enough weapons-grade uranium for a bomb in as little as 12 days.
“The United States must increase its efforts to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons capability and to communicate to Iran, without any ambiguity, that any further progress in its nuclear program will result in severe consequences,” the letter reads.
Calling for coordination with US allies “to implement the snapback mechanism embedded in UN Security Council Resolution 2231 should Iran advance its uranium enrichment past the 90% weapons-grade threshold,” they said such a coordination “would send a powerful message of our unified commitment to deterring Iran’s nuclear program” as well as the message that Iran “would not be able to reap the benefits of international sanctions relief if it operates outside of its nuclear commitments.
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs US Army General Mark Milley attends a hearing before a Senate Armed Services Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, June 10, 2021.
They also voiced worries beyond Iran’s nuclear program, mentioning Tehran’s ever-closer ties with Russia and China, quoting US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley as calling the China-Iran-Russia relationship a problem for the US “for many years to come.” “This strengthened alliance bolsters the Iranian regime’s confidence and may make them more likely to challenge US allies and interests,” read the letter.
Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) told Iran International’s Arash Alaei that “President Biden has made very clear that we cannot allow Iran… to have nuclear weapons.”
With the JCPOA, “at least we had better eyes, combined with Russia and China, on Iran’s activities. We need to do all we can to prevent (Iran from getting nukes). This is a very dangerous part of the world,” he added.
Following reports that the Biden administration is working on an unwritten agreement with the Islamic Republic, US lawmakers at the House and the Senate have moved to further restrict the White House in its dealings with Iran, or at least force the administration to keep the Congress on the loop.
Last week, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the US House of Representatives unanimously passed a resolution to make some punitive measures against Iran permanent. The bipartisan bill called Solidifying Iran Sanctions Act of 2023, has the potential to make the 1996 sanctions against Iran – or several other measures — permanent by deleting the ‘sunset clause’ in any action against the Islamic Republic, a provision that provides an expiry date for a measure.